"Sin-Meter"

"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." (Psalms 139:19)

  Maybe it is just me, but does sin seem to be increasingly sinful the older we get? Because I truly don't think it is as though I am sinning more, but it sure feels like it! This is probably the best test we have of our salvation in Christ, that sin is more and more offensive and stains our hearts. For this is the work of God, the closer we get to Him, the more our sin stands out and becomes apparent in our hearts. As a young man, I felt as though I had plenty of time to get this walk in order. Scriptures like 2 Peter 1:3-8, which present the virtues of our calling to glory, become the "but" spoken of in verse 9, as we look back upon our life and ponder the results. Truth be told, looking within does not help our situation! I know that there are all sorts of counseling programs and books that say otherwise, but we are under a whole different set of circumstances that is amazingly much much bigger than us! This is what Paul is talking about, when he says, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto the things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14) We actually never want to find ourselves in the place where we feel as though we have attained or perfected this walk, because it is not possible to do that, as long as we are in this corruptible bodies! This will always be a work in progress! And the closer we get towards the end of our life, the more vital the progress appears, the more urgent we are for change to happen, and it seems as though change is harder and harder to master. O wretched man that I am! This is why looking in does not work; we must keep our eyes on 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 set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

"My Soul is Kept"

"If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee." (Psalms 139:18)

  As if I could, is the way I see this; there is just no way to count all the blessings and the ways that God looks after us. Seriously, how could we? I know several people in my life that use one that breathing machine while they sleep. I can't imagine what it might feel like to know that you stop breathing in the middle of the night and how often you might not have even woken up. If there was something to be said for, "Now I lay me down to sleep," dying before you wake is no joke! No, this is not something I care to even know about, if I even do that or not; if I die in my sleep, that would be the perfect way to go! But I believe that God will keep me going as long as I am needed; and as far as my life is concerned, as long as my wife is alive, I am needed! There are other people in my life I need to care for also, but Marianne is not able to care for herself. Regardless, everyday in this life is totally and completely dependent upon the Lord; when He calls us home, it is time to go! Here is the thing that blows my mind more than anything else: The awake part of all of this is after we are gone! This is the whole point of this and why it matters; we do not die! Actually, it is just the opposite thing that happens, because currently we are held captive within these tents, totally dependent upon the things we buy to sustain us. There is nothing that anyone can do to me to take away my life in Christ; absolutely no way, no how! Do you believe this! That was the question that Jesus asked Martha, and He was being totally serious about the reason why. It is what we must believe! More and more, it is getting harder to keep track of time; it almost seems as though this merry-go-round has been turned up a few notches, and I am just waiting to jump off. The best and greatest hope to hold unto is the fact that this will soon be over and I get to be with Jesus! Where I also look forward to seeing so many people that have gone before me. Talk about counting, I have totally lost count...

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." (1 Thessalonians 5:8-11)

"For The Record!"

"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" (Psalms 139:17)

   Maybe you did not get what the point was in all of that; but it is more about a passion, as in, where is the desire of your heart and what is constantly pressing into and through you. Jesus said it, "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38) Belly does not mean the gut, it means the substance of what you are and the passion within you. I was a terrible son to my mother, mostly because I had little respect for her and the choices she had sometimes made while I was growing up. But as terrible as I was, she always spoke good things of me and praised the good things I did, never speaking about the bad things, especially the things that only she knew. I can't say I witness that much in people, because most people want to share and talk about the bad in others, primarily just to make themselves appear better than they really are. The thing about that, if you really want to know, is that you become a terrible person in the eyes of those you share with, if all the time you are telling others about the bad things you see in the people you know. I'm just saying: If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything! (I wish I could stick to that rule!) Anyways; this verse is probably one of those verses that gets so overlooked; not because it is hidden or not shared that much, but because that it is so easy to reject and think it does not apply to me. As if God, the Creator of heaven and earth, has me and my pathetic life on His mind. I know you don't feel that, and if you do, you must stop! God loves us so very very much, He gave everything that He could to save us and to make it so that we could spend eternity with Him! What is eternity compared with the millions of people that He loves? It means that we will have time to share with Him! I don't know why, but my heart was heavy during my prayer time this morning for someone that might be giving up. Please don't give up on whatever it is your wanting to give up on! God is more than able to turn any situation from a total disaster to an amazing testimony of His everlasting love! When everyone else gives up on you, He never does; so you can't give up either! There is just nothing else to say, but...

 "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come ye, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for 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." and...
 "Instad of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 55:1-2 & 13)

"Off the Record"

"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalms 139:16)

   So you thought that was weird? Well, if so, you really haven't seen anything yet! So, here is the thing that this speaks to, not only our life as we know it, but it speaks to our glorified life in Christ. I know, that might seem to be going a little too far, but you have got understand something about the God that we serve: He cannot learn, because He already knows everything! I know, it is too much to contain the thought of where or how or why, but God is so much bigger than you think. I was taken back to something I shared in the beginning, like maybe within the first few weeks of this blog; it was the crazy illustration of the universe's picture compared to a magnified picture of a brain cell. You want to talk about something extraordinary, it really does not get any more illustrated than that! Now, if you want to get into something that might be little hard to confirm or deny, how about the question of whether or not all names start in the Book of Life? Pastor Jack mentioned this in his teaching last Sunday, saying, 'We believe that everyone's name is written in the Book of Life from the beginning, and is blotted out if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.' That might not be word-for-word, but it is what he said. If that is so, then this might be the verse that verifies that line of thinking. There are some who do not accept that line of thinking, because I have heard Pastor Mike say it is not true, several different times on the radio. Off the record, I really don't think it matters which way you might think it happens, whether you are written when you are saved, or you are blotted out when you have extinguished all of your chances. The biggest point to which way you perceive the time line, is not based upon the time, but is based more upon the reason for being blotted out. I believe it all about whether you believe that anyone saved is always saved, no if ands or butts. And if that be the case, there is something you need to be aware of: Off the Record, actually means that there is no record of anything you have done! Period! You must be Justified in Christ Jesus! I heard a message yesterday that made me think about where I stand with the LORD, it involved the brother of the Prodigal Son, the one that could not stand for his brother being forgiven, and did not understand repentance, because he had never repented himself! I really do not want to be in that list! A faithful sinner is still a sinner, because we are all born into sin; the real reason we are on the Record in the Lamb's Book of Life, is because we are a New Creature. I guess the real question needs to be about when that Book is actually written, and whether or not the timeline matters at all...

"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name." (Malachi 3:16)

"A Substantial Matter"

"My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." (Psalms 139:15)

  Here is the power of knowing God's plan for our life, even before we were conceived, in that He has known us all along; you have got to see that makes a difference in the way we have confidence in Him. The major problem in this world today, is that many people have bought into the lie that there is no God; that this life we have been given was not given at all, but is merely a freak accident of nature. How small and unsubstantial must someone feel, as they try and convince themselves that there is no Creator, but that the earth, all on by itself created them? No wonder there is so much attention being given to the changing climates or the life of this earth. If you think the earth is what has given you life, what a weird and messed up fear must be guiding your life. Regardless of all of that, this morning I want to focus upon something extraordinary that is hidden in this message. In the King James Version of the Bible, John 3:21 uses this word, "wrought,' which is used here in this verse we are looking at before us. The thought being delivered here is one of a complex and very unique woven tapestry, one that is impossible to figure out, but one that God knows everything about. There is two very different interpretations given in both of these uses of the same word; this use in the verse above is in Hebrew, while the one in John's writing is in Greek. I know it might not make sense to everyone, but it might to some; because the "wrought" of the Greek is speaking to working out or producing something, to work for or earn, to acquire; all of which are geared towards us making something happen, which in the context of what Jesus said to Nicodemus, we are openly doing what God wants us to do. The thought is one of knowing that there is a cleansing power in coming clean with God; much as John speaks about in 1 John 1:9, where he says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The twist in the use of the word here today, is that this "wrought" is used of God's work, which is almost the opposite of the way this word is used for us! This is speaking of something more, "curiouser and curiouser," which is much like the novel by Lewis Carrol; if you are familiar with Alice in Wonderland. Oddly enough, the earth is also involved in that, which many interpret to mean, "Underland," not "Wonderland." Anywho, this is about us knowing and believing that we are part of God's glorious tapestry; a tapestry that He has fashioned and created in His mind long before He ever spoke it into existence; if you can accept it or not, that really does not matter to me; but if you can, it is a very substantial matter to you...

"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." (1 Peter 2:1-3)

"Peace With God!"

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." (Psalms 139:14)

  As many times in my life that I have heard this, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," this might be the first time in my life that it has taken on a new meaning; that it goes beyond the majestic and complex, and into the infinite and the spiritual. Oh, these bodies are amazing, no doubt God is all about making things wonderfully and with the greatest of detail; but this, taken in the context of all that we know, is getting into the realm of our personal relationship with our Creator, as in, we know what we are created for, and we know why we need to praise Him! The verse that pops up in my mind as I think of this is what Paul says at the end of his letter to the Galatians: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (Galatians 6:14-17) It might not say it all, but it says enough! This is a personal journey which involves others, but is primarily between us and the God that made us, both physically and spiritually. No one can tell you whether or not you have been saved but yourself! It is something that must be settled in your own heart; and when you know that it is true, do not let go of it, no matter what! If you have any doubt about your own salvation, then you need to set that right with God, not with anyone else but God. That might be something some spiritual leaders might not agree with; but when it comes to us having a spiritual leader to guide us, it must be Christ alone that we follow, not anyone else. This might be a little controversial among some, but Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 11:1 is greatly taken out of context, because when Paul says, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," he is not comparing himself with Christ, but is stating what we must do: 'If you see me doing as Christ did, then follow my example,' is what Paul is saying, because he has flaws just like you and I. There are many people that have been led astray by following a man who they thought was not capable of going astray, when truth be told, we are all in the same boat! I like what Pastor Jack finished with on Sunday, because it pretty much sums this up: Know Jesus, and you will know God's plan...

"For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands." (Psalms 92:4)

"Peace and Tranquility"

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb." (Psalms 139:13)

  If ever there were a picture of proof that God's hand is upon His chosen from the time of their being conceived, this is a masterpiece. The plot thickens as to how far will go to influence the life of those He has chosen. Yes we have a choice in what might happen, but to the choices put before us, those are all ordained by God! Do not get me wrong in this line of thought, because there are some that might interpret this in a totally obscure way; this is flat out God's way of guiding His children with the right choices. The devil will always give us the wrong choices; through temptation and placement, he will try to trap us into something that changes the work God might have done or is doing. But God will always provide us with the right choices, those things which lead us down the path that He has established for our lives. Much to our own dismay, we make wrong choices; but it is never something God has not already prepared for, or provided for it to be used in His perfect plan. If you doubt me, a simple study in the Book of Jonah should help you see how that works, because God's ways are not our ways; but that does not mean God cannot use our ways for His ways, not when it comes to getting things done. Pastor Jack shared his heart Sunday about what it is like to be called by God, taking us on a little journey, some of which were his wrong choices, and some of which were where God led him. But the bottom line, was that God's children are always led by God! He allows us to make our own choices, but He also makes sure the path we take will lead us back to Him. Don't try to figure out how He does it, just be thankful that He does and rejoice! This word, "tranquility," is sadly misused in so many different fashions; some of which make people assume that it is reserved for the mystic or for meditation. But this is more than that, this is the state of being calm, as in, not to worry about your life! My God has me in His hand, why do I need to worry! If I fail at this or that, He still has me! If I ruin this or that, He still has me! There is nothing that I can do that He already does not know of or has made a way for it to be used or changed into something else. It totally blows my mind how God uses our mistakes for opportunities to do something good. The little mistake that Abraham made with Hagar, produced a little opportunity for Ishmael's descendants to purchase Joseph from his brothers, and then take him to Egypt where he was sold to Potiphar. Just a little turn of events saved a whole lot of people...

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son." (Ephesians 1:3-6) NLT

"Peace Personified"

"Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." (Psalms 139:12)

  I really don't know what else to say, it is about a way make any sense of what we are looking at: if we were going to paint God as a person, then how else could you describe His appearance? We looked at our appearance yesterday, which was not all that much to write home about; but if there was a way to describe how God might appear, to would have to involve something that would be so glorious and holy, that there would be no differential appearance to darkness and light! If you could put that kind of appearance into a word, what do you think that word might be? PEACE! If Jesus is called, "The Prince of Peace," where is this peace manifested? I know it is hard to visualize this, but I want to take this conversation back to the Second Day of creation, the one in which God did not say, "It was good." The First Day, God said, "Let there be light," and God said that the light was good, and then He divided the light from the darkness. On the Second Day, God created the, "firmament," which in a weird abstract way separated the earth from Heaven; to which, "It was good," did not get mentioned; instead, it just says, "and it was so." In this was the one simple flaw in God's creation, that His holiness and what He was creating could not coexist together! I know it sounds incredibly weird, and if it is, then I will take the blame for my weirdness; but if you read the illustration of John's testimony of what he saw and heard in heaven, it pretty much makes perfect sense. In the long run, everything becomes ONE! God dwells with His people and He Himself, yes, that's right, He shall dwell with His people, meaning each and every one of us! Darkness and light are no more! There is no need for the sun or the moon, because there are no more mornings and nights! There is absolutely no more "firmament" also; no more obscurity between God and His people! The glory of God will shine continually, and there will be night! So, if we could illustrate and personify what God might look like, it makes perfect sense that if you love God, He will be a glorious Light that gives us perfect peace; but if you do not love Him, you are consumed by His illumination...

"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 we 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)

"Hide in Plain Sight"

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall light about me." (Psalms 139:11)

  I thought about making 11 and 12 one post, but they are both separate subjects; one is about you and me, while the other is about God. So, if you think that you can somehow hide from God or do something that might be hidden from Him, think again, you are always in the light, even in the dark! I guess we get that idea because we imagine our Heavenly Father in heaven, far far away from earth and unable to witness every single insane thing we might conjure up in our boredom; if that be the case, we have missed out on some pretty amazing things about the greatness of God, most of which involve us believing that He can do anything and that He knows everything! I had a conversation yesterday above my post from yesterday morning, and I was a little bit surprised that the concept of believing in Jesus sometimes does not come with a set of standards. What do people think it means to believe in the only begotten Son of God? To believe that He existed? To believe that He died and rose again? Yes, those are all pretty important things to start with; but the power of the cross, that which takes away my sin, if I cannot see the finished work completed on that cross, then I have not yet believed! There is really no difference between that believing and the believing that God is able to see your every move. If you think there is, then I would like to here your reasoning. After all, what is the point of total forgiveness of our sin, if He cannot see everything that we have done? Seriously, how does that even work? Maybe it was the way God asked, "Adam, Where art thou?" That could have given some of us the idea that God could not see him hiding in the bushes; but I seriously doubt that God was questioning the position of his body: God was asking about the location of his heart! To be perfectly clear, this is about coming totally clean before God; primarily, because we really do not have a choice: He knows everything already, so what is the point of trying to hide anything? Might be part of who we are, the lack of believing just how powerful God really is; because there is too much we all have in common when it comes to picking and choosing when God is looking at what we do or that He sees how we treat one another...

"And so the Lord says, "These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear." What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the LORD, who do evil deeds in the dark! "The LORD can't see us," they say. "He doesn't know what's going on!" How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, "He didn't make me"? Does the jar ever say, "The potter who made me is stupid"?" (Isaiah 29:13-16) NLT

"Whosoever Must!"

"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right shall hold me." (Psalms 139:9-10)

  Forgive me if I press any buttons or wrinkle any feathers; but this might either offend or mend, I pray that it mends! My heart gets broken when I see brothers and sisters that think God no longer loves them for something they might have done; what a waste of such a great testimony to God's redemptive power and His glory. Matthew Henry ends his commentary on these two verses by saying, "God soon arrested Jonah when he fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Well, the first mistake Jonah made was thinking he could flee from God's presence; his second was thinking that God might be done with him, because of his rebellion. I like the word that Matthew Henry uses to describe God's grip on Jonah, the word, "arrested," which is pretty much a blend of the two words, "lead" and "hold." Lead speaks of transporting or guiding, as in to govern someone; and hold speaks of take hold of or to seize, and in to be caught and held in possession. If there is one thing that I have learned in these last 38 years of my life, is the fact that God does not let go! If you think He is done with you, think again, because once you are His property, you are His for eternity! Basically, that is the point of this title today, which was pretty much the reason for those highlighted words in the post from yesterday; "must" and "whosoever". There is just no other way to put this, but to say with great assurance: If you are a Whosoever, then you Must trust God! Trust Him to lead you and trust Him that He holds you! Even if you mess up terribly and cannot see any reason for Him to still care about you, let alone use you, you have got to remember that no one will treat you better or love you more! A few people I know come to mind right now, and I pray that God somehow speaks into their lives. If you think this is about you, you have got to think again; even if this is about you, your mistakes in life are God's opportunities to shine! It is about His glory, not ours; we, as Paul so graciously says, "But for thy sake we are killed all the day long!" It is all about: Less of me and more of Him...

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -not even the power of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below -indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39) NLT

"This Side or That"

"If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." (Psalms 139:8)

  Don't ask my why, but when I read this verse, I can't help but think about Jonah and his prayer to God as he was inside the belly of that fish. I guess we need to be in a position where there is no other degree of being lost that we can enter into, then maybe we can truly understand what matters most; because the things of this life will soon be gone, and only what is offered after this life will be what matters. That is pretty much what "side" represented in the bottom of yesterday's post; which was one of the meanings to the word "spirit" in yesterday's verse. It is closely related to what Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where is 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 3:7-8) Basically, the wind knows from where it came from and where it is going, and to be able to interpret the winds direction, you must be one with the wind! We that are born again have been given the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit know from whence it came and where it is going! This is why Jesus said, "If 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." (John 3:12-13) Jesus knew from where He came, where He was going to return, and where He always has been! Don't try to figure it out, because it will just ruin your mind; instead, just rejoice in the fact that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and in the fact that no one can touch it, because it is safe and secure in Heaven! We might not be able to see where we are going, but we can absolutely know where we are headed; be comforted in that...

""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."" (John 3:14-16)

"Found, and Never Lost!"

"Whether shall I go from thy spirit? or whether shall I flee from thy presence?" (Psalms 139:7)

  So, just in case you missed the point of yesterday's post, as a New Creature in Christ, we are really under a new set of guidelines; grace is a the center of our lives, because God gives us what we do not deserve, continually and without a doubt. You might have heard the phrase, "Everything he touches turns to gold," well, it becomes truth in the life of a follower of Christ. We are not talking about money here, although that might happen; we are talking about something beautiful happening from every disaster, something extra-ordinary that takes place in our ordinary life, something the gives God the glory from what others might see as a mess of a life; it is all about grace, God's wonderful grace! We still do have a choice, without a doubt: we can choose to be full of blessings and know what it feels like to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, or we can choose to serve ourselves and feel the Spirit convicting us, each and every day, day after day. I am under the opinion that we get into heaven either way; but the difference is in the rewards! I have heard Pastor Mike say it over and over: "You may not care about the rewards now, but you will be sorry for not having earned them." The good thing in that, if you are worried about it, is that God says in His word that He will wipe away every tear. (Revelation 21:4) If you are curious why it is that we might have tears in heaven, it is most likely the result of those who we knew that did not make it; because the Bible makes it very clear that we will remember this life and we will be known as we are known. (Matthew 22:31-32; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:19) The main point of what I believe is being said, is that those who are the called and chosen of God, they are assured a place in heaven. We do not know who we are until we are; but God has know it all along! Basically, the title above is pretty much declaring that to be the fact! Never lost means never ever: which says that we have always been the apple of His eye, even before we were conceived in our mother's womb, we had His mark upon us, waiting to be awaken and brought to life. But feel free to believe whatever you want to when it comes to the argument of choice and predestination. Just remember, choice is on this side of heaven, predestination is on the other, on God's side of heaven; where everything is made perfectly clear...

"I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!" (Psalms 139:7) NLT

"Lost and Found"

"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." (Psalms 139:6)

  As with almost everything to do with finding out about God, understanding how God knows all that He knows and putting that together with how much He loves us, it is more than we can possibly take in. Just thinking about it causes mind to blow circuits and makes my heart overwhelmed. This verse reminds me of my favorite chapter in the Bible, Isaiah 55, where it says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Those who might think that they found God, really don't know how it actually works; because it is God that finds us! It is really more complex than that, because in reality, He never lost track of us and always knows where we are and what we are doing in our lives. The finding part is the thing that blows my mind; because He is the one that knows my heart, and at just the right time, He found me in a place where my heart would respond to His love! It did not stop there, because He is still finding me all the time; causing me to remind myself how much He loves me, to ask forgiveness for forgetting, and to be reminded of how much I need Him in my life. If it were not for Him taking the time to reach out and remind me of what I mean to Him, I might just be caught up more in the things of this world; as if I don't have a problem avoiding that, because that is a constant battle. You feel like you want to be successful in business one day, and then want to avoid being successful the next; you want to be in the ministry one day, and the next, you can't let go of your business. It is a little more complex than that, but the more I try and think about it, the more confused I get. Not that it matters, but I do like working most days; I just can't see myself doing anything else. Between taking care of my wife and working, there really isn't much more time for anything else. That is why I really appreciate this time of the year, because it reminds me how much to be thankful for everything and to praise Him for all of His wonderful blessings. So, you see, it really does not matter where we are or what we are doing, as long as we are abiding in Christ: So just keep abiding...

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." (Philippians 3:12-15)

"To Be Pressed Upon"

"Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me." (Psalms 139:5)

  Whether or not you can accept this, my statement regarding lust, as spoken of the other day, it was not something that I am proud of, it is just something I am aware of in my heart. I have found a way to overcome it, as many others have, I am sure: to first and foremost pray; pray for my God to forgive my heart, and to pray for those to whom my eyes looked upon. Secondly, I count the cost; something that I wish many others I know would have done, to seriously examine the consequences of the sin, and run away, whether that is physically or mentally! I am sure that there are many of you who have testimonies of what God can do in many of those situations; because if you surrender over to God and ask Him for strength, then He always will provide a way of escape; 100% guaranteed, He will put up a wall, throw you a rope, or punch you in the gut, whatever it takes! As to the title of today's post, I was looking up that word, "beset," which is where this title came from. It is a word that speaks of being shut is, to confine; to press with siege, to besiege; to urge, to press upon any one in pursuit; to cut, to divide, and to form! This is simply amazing to me how David sees God's hand upon his life; he is not only called and chosen, but he is molded and formed by God; as if he is a lump of clay! If you know anything about working with clay, before you can easily mold it, you must press it and work it out. As a kid, I had several cans of Play-Doh, and I remembered how it was hard at first, but the more you squeezed it and mashed it, the softer it became and the easier it was to rolled up and shape into just about anything you wanted to make. Something else I remember doing, that might sound a little odd, was taking the doh and pressing it on the Funny Pages of the newspaper and lifting the image of the comic onto the clay. God is so good! We might not understand everything that He allows us to go through, or anything that He might cause us to withstand; but the one thing we never need to worry about, ever, is the weight of His mighty hand...

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:8-11) NLT

"Whatever I Say"

"For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether." (Psalms 139:4)

  Just so you know, this goes beyond the spoken word; this is talking about those thoughts of the heart, the heart being the center of your belief. The Editor of my Bible, in his footnote, notes this question: "Does God know everything or not?" It is really something that we must all answer in our own hearts, whether or not we believe God is all that He says that He is! This is not just some kind of mystery or hidden thing that we can brush aside, thinking that we will just wait and see; because this is about who He is and what He is capable of doing. Basically, this makes us realize that we cannot just turn off and on our fellowship with God. In other words, it does not matter where you are, He is there, and there is nothing you can think in your mind that is hidden from Him. A little awakening, to say the least! I have "say" mentioned above in the title, because if we think it, we have said it, as far as God is concerned. If you think that He does not know your intentions, think again; it is going to be something incredible to witness, as we see those who are judged on that day. I would prefer to just accept the fact that He knows everything now, then to wait and find out that truth later! One of those that are called out to be thrown into the "Lake of Fire" are liars, along with the fearful and unbelieving; all of which are things that God knows, but others might not. I guess if you really want, you can pretend anything, believe anything, and challenge everything; but if it is written in the Word of God, I am going to take it to the grave! Do you understand what I am saying? Incredible, isn't it! So next time you are reading God's Word, pay close attention to what you are thinking about as He speaks....

"Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that can hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." (Job 42:1-3)

"Wherever I Go"

"Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways." (Psalms 139:3)

  I just cannot get over the fact that God knows everything about me, and yet, He still loves me the way that He does. It might not make sense, but I imagine once we are with Him in heaven, all of our questions will be answered. This might just be the verse that inspired Kansas to write that song, "Dust In The Wind," if anyone remembers them and that song. Whether you believe it or not, you are the apple of His eye; in other words, He not only knows everything about you, but He knows everywhere you go, have been, and where you will ultimately end up. I really don't know how else to explain it, other than the fact that He may not control everything that we do, but He does all that He can to get us through to the other side. One way or another, if that is where we end up, we will be there! I guess the best illustration that we have of this in the Bible, would be the children of Israel being scattered out all over the world, and then brought back into the Promised Land. He scattered them, kept track of them, and then He brought them back! The adventures and mishaps in the way, those were all the things that were somewhat misguided and obscure; but no matter what, He would find them, dust them off, and set them back on their way. It is a lot like that verse I have shared on before: D. A. has a song called, "Safety Net," where they say, "Shot like a bullet, till kingdom come." The illustration we get from that, is one of God holding a musket, and loading us into that musket, firing us off ahead, finding us, dusting us off, and reloading us again. It might sound a little obscure, but so is life! But then again, if we are God's children, there is a guarantee...

"Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven't believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day."" (John 6:35-40) NLT

"A Long Time Ago"

"Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising: thou understandest my thought afar off." (Psalms 139:2)

  To fully understand what is being said, we must recognize the complexity of what it means to be someone that is chosen by God for His purposes; it doesn't just happen overnight! Dare I say this, but in the tapestry God is painting, there are no mistakes and He does not rewrite His-Story! To start, the word "thought" is a noun, which describes, not the action of the mind, or even the doings of what goes on in it; it is a thing, something that is already established: if you want to bet more specific, it actually is a person, as in, a friend or companion. If you really want to get crazy into it, then you could almost portray it as a lover; much as would be the case if you had someone you deeply loved and you looked forward to the time you would be together: knowing everything that you could possibly know about them, even knowing the experiences that you would share together, and looking forward to actually living them out. I know it sounds crazy, but in the way this is portrayed, that is pretty much what is being said; just be thankful and accept it! These next three verses might be a little hard to swallow; but in the mind of God, there is nothing He does not know, way before it happens, and a long way off from when it happens. In other words, your "downsitting and uprising" have been painted on that tapestry a long time ago! Secondly, that word, "understandest," is a word that means to distinguish or to separate; much as be the case if you could focus in on someones goodness and not concern yourself with their badness; if that was even humanly possible! Thank's be to God, He is more than able to do what we cannot! Which causes us to wonder, how this craziness started in the first place? Was I actually saved in God's mind long before I was even conceived in my mother's womb? God already knew what would happen, but I needed to live it out! The Editor of my Bible puts it in this light, saying, "God merely conducted an experiment with Abraham to prove that the result would be the same every time, much as a physics professor knows the outcome of the same experiment year after year. Still it must be demonstrated." I had a really crazy thought yesterday thinking about myself as the "Whosoever" in Jesus' statement of Matthew 5:28; realizing that I am! It is hard not to think of a time in my life that it did not happen. Maybe it was so common a thought, I merely brushed it aside and never concerned myself with it; in my own mind, maybe I thought I was paying them a complement without them even knowing. Regardless of what the heck I was toying with in that thought yesterday, it came to the point of being a Whosoever,  and how thankful that I am, His whosoever...

"And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And the were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all these things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying. Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great."" (Luke 9:42-48)

"An Open Book"

"O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me." (Psalms 139:1)

  If the is one thing that we should be thankful about, seeing how God knows everything there is to know about us, is that we are free to own every single sin that He reveals in us. I was reminded of something last night, as Pastor Bryan said these words: "You can't give it away, till you own it." How often we see something in us that God has shown us, and immediately we start looking either for the one responsible for it or for the association it might have with others, as in, does it seem normal and a common sin. I guess you could call that sharing your sin; where you don't feel as bad for it being part of you, because it is part of so many others too. I heard Pastor Mike sharing on this the other day, as a caller ask, "If David said, "Against you only have I sinned," does that mean he did not sin against Bathsheba or Uriah?" I had to turn up the radio a little, just so I could hear his answer, because I had to hear what was going to be said. The bottom line, from what I gathered, is that God is the only one that we can actually sin against. We commit sin with one another; but it is God alone to whom we are held accountable for those sins. To be perfectly honest, we can commit sin with someone else, and they don't even need to know they have been involved in our sin. Uriah had no clue that David had him killed; as far as he knew, he was just being trusted as the warrior that he was, as he was one of David's 37 mighty men. Jesus put it into perspective, as He said: "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28) So you tell me, how does that woman know that she has been offended by your sin? She does not, unless you let her know. But God knows! Something else that Jesus said, which goes back to what I closed with yesterday, as He told a religious man what true religion looked like...

""For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."" (John 3:17-21)  

"God Can Do Anything And Knows Everything"

PSALMS 139 [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]]

  This Psalm contains a whole lot of nuggets; priceless truths about the wonderful and powerful God that we serve. Matthew Henry says "Some Jewish doctors are of the opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David." Not sure why, but my Bible does not show the statement above, 'To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David." If we are looking for something that might give some hope in our hopelessness, this is one of those places in the Bible where we can gain some Light! No matter what you are living in or where you might find yourself in this crazy life, there is sanity to be found in knowing that God can meet you no matter where you are at or where you have been: you can never be out of reach for God! As I left off with yesterday's post, God knows our name, is actually quite an understatement, because, as we shall see, He knows more than just our name; He knows every single thing about us, inside and out. If you want to talk about getting personal with God, you don't have to worry about holding back, He knows it all anyway; but God, with everything He knows about you, wants you to be willing and able to get to know Him. That is the beauty of this Book we call The Bible; it is more than His love letter, it is Him opening up His heart to us and showing us, not only how powerful and wonderful that He is, but that with all He is, He still can be intimate with us individually! I don't know about you, but that gives me more than just hope, that is the solution to every single problem that I could ever have, ever! Of all the nuggets listed in these 24 verses, I have the last two verses highlighted in my Bible. It is the object of what we realize, seeing how God can do anything and knows everything, what more can we ask for...

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalms 139:23-24)

"Perfect Protection"

"The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: the mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands." (Psalms 138:8)

   There are days when it seems God would have us to sit still, while other days are more about being excited for all He has done; then you have days like today, when it seems God needs our attention. That word, "perfect," might not be the motivation that we need to grab our attention, but it should be enough to make us feel protected, in spite of our own failures and difficulties in staying focused upon the Lord. There are none of us that are perfect, so the point of being discouraged by the mistakes we have made, just seems so unjustified; especially after all that God has done to make us justified! This is the point I believe we need to take away from this, that He does not give up on us! This is what we must walk in, the realization that God will complete that work which He has begun in us, because it is His work, not our work! I heard a little message yesterday that was a newbie, one that I had never quite heard before; and if I had, I wasn't paying attention. It was about God's order of doing things, that He does not just do everything at once. The example was that of creation, where the Pastor said, "He could have created everything all at the same time, but He did not; instead, He created everything in a specific order and with intent," or something to that effect. Then he said what we all have to realize and come to terms with: that God saved us in an instant, but He perfects us over time! It is precisely this realization that perfects our protection; not that God will do anything different based upon what we might think, but we will! I might not understand everything that is going on, but if I believe God is protecting me, then I really don't need to worry about what I do not know; I just need to focus upon Him and know that He loves me! We don't change God's view of us, because He does not change; we can only change our view of God; and in this case, it is personal! That is probably the most important fact that we have available to us, is that He personally is concerned about you and me! You see how God gets your attention: He calls you by name...

"Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:19)