Truth in Psalms
Written after David's sin with Bathsheba--
51:1} Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy lovingkindness
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies
blot out my transgressions.
**
Sinners.
None escape from being sinners, not one.
But we can be sinners saved by grace.
David, knew God to be forgiving, and loving, merciful. David lived in a time where the old testament wrath of God was alive and well in the sense the focus was upon God and the covenant and breaking the commandments of God, more so than the forgiveness of Jesus. Jesus was still future in David's time, the Messiah was a dream to be realized, a hope to cling to.
David prayed to God for mercy as he acknowledged God's lovingkindness.
David knew God to be love and embodied in that love was mercy.
God's mercy, God's wrath is no different then the mercy and wrath of Jesus. If you've seen the son, you've seen the father, Jesus said that. Their principles, their beliefs, their morals are the same. Even today you'll find father and son businesses where the son incorporates the same high standards of a father, continuing a father's beliefs in all they do and hoping to pass that on to their son. At no time did Jesus ever denounce His father in any way whatsoever.
David knew the God of Love, and he recognized his own very sin-filled state.
{51:2} Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
**
Only God can wash us throughly and cleanse us from sin.
{51:3} For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
**
Like any good ten step program to recovery the first step is admitting you have a problem, a need and that you need help. David wasn't covering up the sin, he was telling it like it was. He was acknowledging his sins, and proclaiming that they were something he couldn't forget. If something is ever before you then it's certainly not tucked neatly away anywhere, right?
{51:4} 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.
**
When we sin, we are transgression a law.
If there were no law, there'd be no sin.
If it weren't a crime to murder, there'd be no crime when someone was murdered. Only because we call it a crime is it wrong.
When we sin we are breaking the law and we have to ask ourselves, whose law?
If it's man's law then we are accountable to man for our sin, right? If I run a red light I'm sinning against a manmade law.
If it's God's law then we are accountable to God for our sin, right?
David knew when he sinned it was against God. The evil he did was done and God knew it was evil.
God is justified when he judges us all.
The law is before us and when we break it, God knows and has the right to judge us for our evil ways.
{51:5} Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
**
Conceived in sin.
Ultimately our heritage is sin.
We inherit sin from our parents all the way back to Adam and Eve.
David was no different. His tendency towards sin existed in him as it does in all of us from before birth. No one is born sinless, save Jesus, and even He was tempted just like we are, only there was no sin in Him at all. Born of woman and God, Jesus took on our humanity and sinned not. His being born of God kept Him from inheriting the sin of Adam and Eve, and being sinful in that respect, but it did not keep Him from the temptation to sin. It's only because He didn't sin that He can offer us His mercy and grace, His truth. He wasn't magically protected from sinning. He wasn't given some magical protection spell. He was tempted to sin and while tempted He didn't yield to sin, but called upon His Father and remained sinless. To say temptation wasn't the same for Him would be a lie, if anything it was worse for Him than for us.
Jesus overcame!
He wasn't gifted with magical abilities.
Jesus had to overcome.
Jesus had to have the exact same - or worse - temptation to sin as we do, and yet He had to remain sinless to save us, to prove that God's love is powerful enough to overcome the lies of Satan.
Jesus had to suffer the penalty of sin, of sin which He never committed.
David knew sin existed in himself and didn't try to put himself above it at all. He also knew that God's will was for him to not sin.
{51:6} Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
**
God desires truth in our hearts, in our lives. Truth and that truth is His love, His mercy where we find grace. God wants that truth in all of us, He wants us to desire that truth, for it to be real within us. As real as sin is, so is truth. What makes us free creatures is the power of choice. Truth exists even if one never sins. Sin exists and we have the truth to set us free.
{51:7} Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
**
Yes, we can be purged and sinless, we can be cleaned from our stains of sin, but only through God's grace, God's washing- we can never clean ourselves the way God can clean us, never. Ever hear of snow blindness? The snow is so white the sun's reflection upon it can blind a person. Whiter than snow. Can we truly imagine that?
{51:8} Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
**
Again the chastening of the Lord shouldn't be despised at all. We need to rejoice and be glad, be joyous as we are corrected by God knowing He loves us and that is why we are broken, so we may mend in Him. We chastise our own children out of love, God loves us more than we can ever love our own.
{51:9} Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
{51:10} Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
{51:11} Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
{51:12} Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
**
Amazing! So amazing.
{51:13} Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
{51:14} Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation:
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
{51:15} O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
{51:16} For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it:
thou delightest not in burnt offering.
{51:17} The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise.
**
A broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart all all God needs. The realization that we depend upon Him for our lives everlasting, that His ways are love beyond our comprehension, this is what God desires. A heart and spirit of truth, of love, of God. Oh that we could do ANYTHING to please God, we could give Him our all but without a spirit and heart broken to the realization that God is love, righteous, and our hope eternal everything we do means nothing at all. There isn't a single sacrifice we can make that would be greater than our broken spirit, than our broken and contrite hearts. Do you see? God desires something we ALL can give to Him, our hearts, our spirit, our lives. We don't have to have riches, we don't have to be brilliant, we don't have to have a college degree in theology, we don't have to have anything that we don't ALL have the ability to give to God, not one thing. I don't need a priest, a pastor, a Pope, to pray me to heaven. In fact none of them can give God what He wants from me, only I have what He wants, only You have what He wants.
While the sacrificial system was a type to point to the true, and necessary to teach that sin requires sacrifice if it's to be forgiven, it wasn't perfect. God could accept the sacrifices offered but only if the spirit with which they were giving was a true spirit, a repenting, contrite spirit. Not a single burnt offering was acceptable to God without a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, acknowledging the sinfulness and helplessness without God's grace. A person could offer a whole herd of burnt offerings and it would do him no good if his heart wasn't truly contrite.
May God help us all to find our grace and hope in Him now and always and not look to ourselves to work for it in anyway. We're sinners saved by grace. We're sinners that cling to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for doing for us what we could never do. With our spirits broken, with our hearts broken and contrite we bow before our King and offer Him our lives and know that our Heavenly Father through the mercy and sacrifice of His Only Son will accept us to Him and we can become sons of God, adopted to Him now and forever.
Amen.
Romans {8:12} Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
{8:13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
{8:14} For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
{8:15} For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
{8:16} The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
{8:17} And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Amen.
This is truth.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
We must be delivered from evil by the grace of God
Psalm 43
{43:1}
Judge me,
O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
{43:2}
For thou art the God of my strength
why dost thou cast me off?
why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
{43:3}
O send out thy light and thy truth
let them lead me
let them bring me unto thy holy hill
and to thy tabernacles.
{43:4}
Then will I go unto the altar of God,
unto God my exceeding joy
yea, upon the harp will I praise thee,
O God my God.
{43:5}
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God
for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance,
and my God.
**
Send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me.
Why dost thou cast me off....
Despair, doubt is no stranger to any who would follow God.
Despair and doubt afflict all of us.
Maybe we don't have enemies in the sense we are fighting them for our lives physically, at least I don't have anyone trying to kill me. Yet we have enemies and we fight for our lives maybe not physically but spiritually there isn't a single person who isn't fighting that battle.
Our attacker might be against our faith and there is no worse attacker.
The oppression from our enemy, any that oppress our faith are our enemies make no doubt about it whatsoever.
We do mourn when our faith wavers? How can we not mourn when something so important is threatened?
We ask God to send out His light and His truth, only that can save us. Light and Truth, Jesus' Christ is the light and truth, His grace, His mercy is truth.
'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God
for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance,
and my God.'
We all know the disquiet of our souls don't we? We call it depression, we call it anxiety, we call it my all sorts of *modern* names but it is all the same in the end- a disquiet within us, something that keeps us from a peaceful existence. We place our hope here and now, we place the desire for our peace here and now, we want contentment and happiness here and now and the ONLY way to get that in any small way is to place our hope in God.
Our hope must be in God. It must be in something more than this life. Our hope must be in the saving grace of Jesus.
We aren't going to have it easy here. We fool ourselves by experiencing moments of joy and happiness, periods of praise and song, we can't rely on those! We can have them, we can, but they can't be our mainstay. We can't believe that when we're caught in a depression, or heartache that it's all gone, that hope is gone. It's when we're down the farthest that hope is made even more real if we let it. Hope. Grasp the hope when you feel like all hope is really gone, grasp at it and in faith believe that no matter how you're feeling, no matter how close we are to despairing that God is there as our hope. We don't have to feel it, we can know it. Praise God who is our health, our hope when we are disquieted within. Praise God who will see us through the dark, we can't give up or give in to despair, we can't let evil take hold of us, we must be delivered from evil by the grace of God through His Son, Jesus.
Amen!
{43:1}
Judge me,
O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
{43:2}
For thou art the God of my strength
why dost thou cast me off?
why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
{43:3}
O send out thy light and thy truth
let them lead me
let them bring me unto thy holy hill
and to thy tabernacles.
{43:4}
Then will I go unto the altar of God,
unto God my exceeding joy
yea, upon the harp will I praise thee,
O God my God.
{43:5}
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God
for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance,
and my God.
**
Send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me.
Why dost thou cast me off....
Despair, doubt is no stranger to any who would follow God.
Despair and doubt afflict all of us.
Maybe we don't have enemies in the sense we are fighting them for our lives physically, at least I don't have anyone trying to kill me. Yet we have enemies and we fight for our lives maybe not physically but spiritually there isn't a single person who isn't fighting that battle.
Our attacker might be against our faith and there is no worse attacker.
The oppression from our enemy, any that oppress our faith are our enemies make no doubt about it whatsoever.
We do mourn when our faith wavers? How can we not mourn when something so important is threatened?
We ask God to send out His light and His truth, only that can save us. Light and Truth, Jesus' Christ is the light and truth, His grace, His mercy is truth.
'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God
for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance,
and my God.'
We all know the disquiet of our souls don't we? We call it depression, we call it anxiety, we call it my all sorts of *modern* names but it is all the same in the end- a disquiet within us, something that keeps us from a peaceful existence. We place our hope here and now, we place the desire for our peace here and now, we want contentment and happiness here and now and the ONLY way to get that in any small way is to place our hope in God.
Our hope must be in God. It must be in something more than this life. Our hope must be in the saving grace of Jesus.
We aren't going to have it easy here. We fool ourselves by experiencing moments of joy and happiness, periods of praise and song, we can't rely on those! We can have them, we can, but they can't be our mainstay. We can't believe that when we're caught in a depression, or heartache that it's all gone, that hope is gone. It's when we're down the farthest that hope is made even more real if we let it. Hope. Grasp the hope when you feel like all hope is really gone, grasp at it and in faith believe that no matter how you're feeling, no matter how close we are to despairing that God is there as our hope. We don't have to feel it, we can know it. Praise God who is our health, our hope when we are disquieted within. Praise God who will see us through the dark, we can't give up or give in to despair, we can't let evil take hold of us, we must be delivered from evil by the grace of God through His Son, Jesus.
Amen!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Thy TRUTH continually preserve me.
Truth in Psalms
{40:1} I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Patiently waiting, in our day and age that almost seems to be an oxymoron. We don't want to wait patiently, we want action, results, satisfaction and we want it now, or as some would say, 'and I want it yesterday', indicating they want it faster than is really possible and yet as fast as they can get whatever it is they're after.
Patiently waiting.
I don't think I'm a very patient waiter at all personally.
I think about having to wait for doctors and I'm always chanting in my head, 'hurry up, call me, hurry up, me next'. I think about waiting in a fast food drive thru going on about how it's *supposed* to be FAST food, when in reality it's a lot faster than food ever should be. I think about standing in line at the grocery store looking about complaining, they should open more lanes or darn it, I got in the wrong line again! Why is the cashier being so chatty? Doesn't she realize I just want to go, go, go!
Waiting patiently for the Lord.
No, we want instantaneous with the Lord too. Hurry Lord, hear my prayer, hurry Lord do this, hurry Lord do that, hurry, hurry... if I don't see results soon then what's this all about. Hurry and come Lord, end the world so we can be with you in heaven . Hurry, hurry, hurry.
'I waited patiently for the Lord.'
The Lord wasn't instantaneous here in this psalm was He? Someone had to wait on Him. Wait on Him and they could have done so impatiently but they didn't, they waited patiently on the Lord- we've no idea how long the wait full of patience was, could it have been one hour? Two? Five days? Ten? A month? A year? We do know that the patience paid off because of this-- '...and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.'
A cry to the Lord and a patient waiting. Again an oxymoron? When we cry out for something it's usually something we want instantly, not something we want to wait on. A cry denotes need, an urgent need and yet to cry and wait patiently, that truly is amazing. For the state of the world I can imagine myself crying to the Lord daily and hopefully waiting patiently, see I said 'hopefully'. To wait for the Lord is a lifetime endeavor, something we have to be willing to wait for patiently and not get discouraged. In this world of instantaneous response and gratification, we have to realize that something’s truly do involve a lifetime of waiting.
Let's go on...
{40:2} He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
How often do we find ourselves despairing? Our lives are fraught with challenge after challenge and we want to give up? We're stuck in a horrible place in life and it seems as if there is no getting out of it? Hopefully we don't find ourselves in that 'pit' too often. God can get us out of it, He can and He will make it so we are back on solid ground and headed in the right direction.
{40:3} And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
Amazing, simply amazing. When we are saved we want to sing the praises of the one who saved us. I just saw recently an article in the news where a father and son were rescued from the ocean after being lost at sea for 12 hours and the father was so happy when his son was rescued as well as himself (the two having become separated in the night) that he went about hugging and kissing the rescuers. Was he singing their praises? Oh yes he was. We do get a new song in our mouths, our praise does go unto God who saves us. Others can witness this change in us and they too will find a place with God.
{40:4} Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
{40:5} Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Amazing.
{40:6} Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
{40:7} Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me
{40:8} I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
{40:9} I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
{40:10} I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy TRUTH from the great congregation.
Thy lovingkindness and thy truth.
Read this again how it's all tied up together-
'I have not hid they RIGHTEOUSNESS within my heart; I have declared thy FAITHFULNESS and thy SALVATION: I have not concealed thy LOVINGKINDNESS and they TRUTH from the great congregation.'
Righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness, and truth.
Amazing.
{40:11} Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy TRUTH continually preserve me.
So amazing.
We need God's tender mercy in our lives. We need God's lovingkindness and the truth in us, preserving us, keeping us unto that great day when we are with Him finally. We need this so desperately now, just as man has always needed this. Why? Read on...
{40:12} For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Sound familiar? It does to me. We are so sinful. Only God can save us, we can't save ourselves.
Remember the patiently waiting- well read on and see how that has slipped a bit here as deliverance is sought.
{40:13} Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
{40:14} Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
{40:15} Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
{40:16} Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
{40:17} But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Make haste.
Make no tarrying.
I waited patiently.
Patiently - perseverance? In it for the long haul, determined to wait forever if necessary and yet even with patience, with perseverance the longing for God and His world made new, the longing for salvation is something alive and desperate within us. Willing to wait as long as it takes, but wanting the wait to not be so long. Willing to wait, willing to hope and cling to the promises even when it seems like forever and a day. Faith in our darkest hour, faith to wait and believe, to trust and hope and yet I can't help but cry out... 'Make haste to help me,... make no tarrying, O my God!.'
I recently caught bits and pieces of a movie about prisoners of war in Vietnam and how ten years or so later people were going to find them. They showed a part where a captor was telling the pows that if they'd only admit to their wrongdoing they'd go free, but ten years of hardship in the most deplorable conditions would not make them admit to the wrongdoing, they were holding fast to their faith so to speak through conditions unimaginable. This was just a movie and I'm sure I don't have the facts of it all straight, but the gist of it was holding fast through all of the hardship. We have to holdfast, and like those POW who never gave up hope of being rescued and didn't give in to their captors, we have to be patient. We might die, as some did in that movie, but we can't give up this fight we're in, we can't give in to the enemy. We have to cling to Christ and His mercy and pray that He comes soon to save us. It's through Him we can find our hope, through His grace and mercy we can find salvation through faith, believing on Him and knowing no matter how awful everything in our lives seems, no matter how dark the night is, our light in Christ will shine forth. While the enemy surrounds us with thoughts demons of our own seeking to pull us down into despair we have to pray, 'lead us not into despair but deliver us from evil'.
May God bless all of us as we seek to hold on through each of our own personal dark hours as evils surround us and our sins take hold of us so we can't even look up to God and our heart sinks in our chest...let us hold on to the promises of God. We have a deliverer in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior now and forever.
Amen.
{40:1} I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Patiently waiting, in our day and age that almost seems to be an oxymoron. We don't want to wait patiently, we want action, results, satisfaction and we want it now, or as some would say, 'and I want it yesterday', indicating they want it faster than is really possible and yet as fast as they can get whatever it is they're after.
Patiently waiting.
I don't think I'm a very patient waiter at all personally.
I think about having to wait for doctors and I'm always chanting in my head, 'hurry up, call me, hurry up, me next'. I think about waiting in a fast food drive thru going on about how it's *supposed* to be FAST food, when in reality it's a lot faster than food ever should be. I think about standing in line at the grocery store looking about complaining, they should open more lanes or darn it, I got in the wrong line again! Why is the cashier being so chatty? Doesn't she realize I just want to go, go, go!
Waiting patiently for the Lord.
No, we want instantaneous with the Lord too. Hurry Lord, hear my prayer, hurry Lord do this, hurry Lord do that, hurry, hurry... if I don't see results soon then what's this all about. Hurry and come Lord, end the world so we can be with you in heaven . Hurry, hurry, hurry.
'I waited patiently for the Lord.'
The Lord wasn't instantaneous here in this psalm was He? Someone had to wait on Him. Wait on Him and they could have done so impatiently but they didn't, they waited patiently on the Lord- we've no idea how long the wait full of patience was, could it have been one hour? Two? Five days? Ten? A month? A year? We do know that the patience paid off because of this-- '...and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.'
A cry to the Lord and a patient waiting. Again an oxymoron? When we cry out for something it's usually something we want instantly, not something we want to wait on. A cry denotes need, an urgent need and yet to cry and wait patiently, that truly is amazing. For the state of the world I can imagine myself crying to the Lord daily and hopefully waiting patiently, see I said 'hopefully'. To wait for the Lord is a lifetime endeavor, something we have to be willing to wait for patiently and not get discouraged. In this world of instantaneous response and gratification, we have to realize that something’s truly do involve a lifetime of waiting.
Let's go on...
{40:2} He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
How often do we find ourselves despairing? Our lives are fraught with challenge after challenge and we want to give up? We're stuck in a horrible place in life and it seems as if there is no getting out of it? Hopefully we don't find ourselves in that 'pit' too often. God can get us out of it, He can and He will make it so we are back on solid ground and headed in the right direction.
{40:3} And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
Amazing, simply amazing. When we are saved we want to sing the praises of the one who saved us. I just saw recently an article in the news where a father and son were rescued from the ocean after being lost at sea for 12 hours and the father was so happy when his son was rescued as well as himself (the two having become separated in the night) that he went about hugging and kissing the rescuers. Was he singing their praises? Oh yes he was. We do get a new song in our mouths, our praise does go unto God who saves us. Others can witness this change in us and they too will find a place with God.
{40:4} Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
{40:5} Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Amazing.
{40:6} Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
{40:7} Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me
{40:8} I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
{40:9} I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
{40:10} I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy TRUTH from the great congregation.
Thy lovingkindness and thy truth.
Read this again how it's all tied up together-
'I have not hid they RIGHTEOUSNESS within my heart; I have declared thy FAITHFULNESS and thy SALVATION: I have not concealed thy LOVINGKINDNESS and they TRUTH from the great congregation.'
Righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness, and truth.
Amazing.
{40:11} Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy TRUTH continually preserve me.
So amazing.
We need God's tender mercy in our lives. We need God's lovingkindness and the truth in us, preserving us, keeping us unto that great day when we are with Him finally. We need this so desperately now, just as man has always needed this. Why? Read on...
{40:12} For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Sound familiar? It does to me. We are so sinful. Only God can save us, we can't save ourselves.
Remember the patiently waiting- well read on and see how that has slipped a bit here as deliverance is sought.
{40:13} Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
{40:14} Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
{40:15} Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
{40:16} Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
{40:17} But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Make haste.
Make no tarrying.
I waited patiently.
Patiently - perseverance? In it for the long haul, determined to wait forever if necessary and yet even with patience, with perseverance the longing for God and His world made new, the longing for salvation is something alive and desperate within us. Willing to wait as long as it takes, but wanting the wait to not be so long. Willing to wait, willing to hope and cling to the promises even when it seems like forever and a day. Faith in our darkest hour, faith to wait and believe, to trust and hope and yet I can't help but cry out... 'Make haste to help me,... make no tarrying, O my God!.'
I recently caught bits and pieces of a movie about prisoners of war in Vietnam and how ten years or so later people were going to find them. They showed a part where a captor was telling the pows that if they'd only admit to their wrongdoing they'd go free, but ten years of hardship in the most deplorable conditions would not make them admit to the wrongdoing, they were holding fast to their faith so to speak through conditions unimaginable. This was just a movie and I'm sure I don't have the facts of it all straight, but the gist of it was holding fast through all of the hardship. We have to holdfast, and like those POW who never gave up hope of being rescued and didn't give in to their captors, we have to be patient. We might die, as some did in that movie, but we can't give up this fight we're in, we can't give in to the enemy. We have to cling to Christ and His mercy and pray that He comes soon to save us. It's through Him we can find our hope, through His grace and mercy we can find salvation through faith, believing on Him and knowing no matter how awful everything in our lives seems, no matter how dark the night is, our light in Christ will shine forth. While the enemy surrounds us with thoughts demons of our own seeking to pull us down into despair we have to pray, 'lead us not into despair but deliver us from evil'.
May God bless all of us as we seek to hold on through each of our own personal dark hours as evils surround us and our sins take hold of us so we can't even look up to God and our heart sinks in our chest...let us hold on to the promises of God. We have a deliverer in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior now and forever.
Amen.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
We have to grasp the truth beyond feeling
Psalm 33
{33:1} Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: [for] praise is comely for the upright.
{33:2} Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery [and] an instrument of ten strings.
{33:3} Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
{33:4} For the word of the LORD [is] right; and all his works [are done] in truth.
Rejoicing.
Praising.
Singing.
Loudly playing instruments.
Why should there be rejoicing and praising and singing, playing of instruments?
The word of the Lord is right, all his works are done in truth.
The Lord's word is right.
All his works are done in truth.
There's the truth again.
I think we underestimate the truth.
Seriously, I really think we do. Christ brought with Him Grace and Truth. He didn't come to earth, born as a human with supernatural abilities, He didn't come to earth as a man taking on out humanity without the same propensity to sin as we did. He came sinless, unlike us who are born into sin, but he still had the same temptation as us.
Hebrews {4:15} 'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.'
In all points tempted like we are.
Christ our Savior, our Lord and Master, brought with Him Grace and Truth. Grace for us all, truth for us all.
'All his works are done in truth.'
The truth is powerful, so very powerful.
John {8:32} 'And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'
Make you free.
And if you're like many, you want to know free how? Because you're not captive. Here's what Jesus had to say.
John {8:33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
{8:33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
{8:34} Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
{8:35} And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever.
{8:36} If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Sin.
Captive to sin.
Freed by Jesus.
Truth will make you free.
All His works are done in truth.
The truth is so important. The truth is...
Eph. {4:17} This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind
{4:18} Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
{4:19} Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
{4:20} But ye have not so learned Christ;
{4:21} If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as THE TRUTH IS in Jesus:
{4:22} That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
{4:23} And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
{4:24} And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
1 John {1:8} If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in us.
{1:9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
{1:10} If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John {2:1} 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:
{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
**
The truth is in Jesus.
And sometimes we realize what something is when we realize what it is not.
'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in us'
Remember- Jesus told us we were in bondage to sin, captive to sin and the truth would set us free.
John {8:36} 'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
Free from sin only in Jesus.
If we say we have no sin, we aren't realizing what the truth of life is.
We are free only in Jesus.
The truth is Jesus and His saving Grace.
Read this closely--
1 John {2:1} 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:
{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
**
Now lets continue with the Psalms-
{33:1} Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: [for] praise is comely for the upright.
{33:2} Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery [and] an instrument of ten strings.
{33:3} Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
{33:4} For the word of the LORD [is] right; and all his works [are done] in truth.
{33:5} He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
{33:6} By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
{33:7} He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
{33:8} Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
{33:9} For he spake, and it was [done;] he commanded, and it stood fast.
{33:10} The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
{33:11} The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
{33:12} Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] the LORD: [and] the people [whom] he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
{33:13} The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
{33:14} From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
{33:15} He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.
{33:16} There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
{33:17} An horse [is] a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver [any] by his great strength.
{33:18} Behold, the eye of the LORD [is] upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
{33:19} To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
{33:20} Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he [is] our help and our shield.
{33:21} For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
{33:22} Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
***
The truth is outside of ourselves, only found in Jesus.
We're trapped in ourselves when we believe we can find any hope in ourselves outside of Jesus.
Life with all its heartaches and pains, illnesses and accidents, it can wrap itself around us drawing us away from Jesus as we only become absorbed with ourselves. Jesus is the truth, our Savior from the sin that has such a vile hold upon us. We need to step outside ourselves completely and trust in Him and Him only.
Easy to say? Hard to do? Only if we don't want the truth. Only if...
Eph. {4:17} This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind
{4:18} Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
{4:19} Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness
**
We aren't past feeling, we know, we see and we have to believe that Christ is our hope, our truth. Even if we don't feel right, we can know that beyond feeling we have Jesus as our Savior, Jesus who alone can save us from sin and the sin in our lives.
May Christ bless and keep us in Him even when life wraps us up in a thick, black darkness of hopelessness. We have to grasp the truth beyond feeling.
You can be born into a family of royalty- and know you're of royalty, but you don't have to live a life as one born of royalty you can turn your back on it all and throw away all the trappings of being royal- but it won't make you any less born of royalty. We are all called to be children of the King, but we don't have to wear the trappings, we can deny our heritage in Christ, we can deny Christ, but that doesn't change that we are called to be His children. Beyond the feelings, the emotions that can often trap us with their insidious hold over our lives blinding us to our freedom in Christ through His truth, beyond all that we can know. When things are the darkest the light is found in Christ. We can know, even when we feel further from the truth than ever. Let us use our knowledge beyond the feeling. Know.
May God bless and keep us all in His loving embrace through His son, through the grace and mercy of the truth in Jesus now and always.
Amen.
{33:1} Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: [for] praise is comely for the upright.
{33:2} Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery [and] an instrument of ten strings.
{33:3} Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
{33:4} For the word of the LORD [is] right; and all his works [are done] in truth.
Rejoicing.
Praising.
Singing.
Loudly playing instruments.
Why should there be rejoicing and praising and singing, playing of instruments?
The word of the Lord is right, all his works are done in truth.
The Lord's word is right.
All his works are done in truth.
There's the truth again.
I think we underestimate the truth.
Seriously, I really think we do. Christ brought with Him Grace and Truth. He didn't come to earth, born as a human with supernatural abilities, He didn't come to earth as a man taking on out humanity without the same propensity to sin as we did. He came sinless, unlike us who are born into sin, but he still had the same temptation as us.
Hebrews {4:15} 'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.'
In all points tempted like we are.
Christ our Savior, our Lord and Master, brought with Him Grace and Truth. Grace for us all, truth for us all.
'All his works are done in truth.'
The truth is powerful, so very powerful.
John {8:32} 'And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'
Make you free.
And if you're like many, you want to know free how? Because you're not captive. Here's what Jesus had to say.
John {8:33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
{8:33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
{8:34} Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
{8:35} And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever.
{8:36} If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Sin.
Captive to sin.
Freed by Jesus.
Truth will make you free.
All His works are done in truth.
The truth is so important. The truth is...
Eph. {4:17} This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind
{4:18} Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
{4:19} Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
{4:20} But ye have not so learned Christ;
{4:21} If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as THE TRUTH IS in Jesus:
{4:22} That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
{4:23} And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
{4:24} And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
1 John {1:8} If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in us.
{1:9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
{1:10} If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John {2:1} 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:
{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
**
The truth is in Jesus.
And sometimes we realize what something is when we realize what it is not.
'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in us'
Remember- Jesus told us we were in bondage to sin, captive to sin and the truth would set us free.
John {8:36} 'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
Free from sin only in Jesus.
If we say we have no sin, we aren't realizing what the truth of life is.
We are free only in Jesus.
The truth is Jesus and His saving Grace.
Read this closely--
1 John {2:1} 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:
{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and THE TRUTH IS NOT in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
**
Now lets continue with the Psalms-
{33:1} Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: [for] praise is comely for the upright.
{33:2} Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery [and] an instrument of ten strings.
{33:3} Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
{33:4} For the word of the LORD [is] right; and all his works [are done] in truth.
{33:5} He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
{33:6} By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
{33:7} He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
{33:8} Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
{33:9} For he spake, and it was [done;] he commanded, and it stood fast.
{33:10} The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
{33:11} The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
{33:12} Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] the LORD: [and] the people [whom] he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
{33:13} The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
{33:14} From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
{33:15} He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.
{33:16} There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
{33:17} An horse [is] a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver [any] by his great strength.
{33:18} Behold, the eye of the LORD [is] upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
{33:19} To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
{33:20} Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he [is] our help and our shield.
{33:21} For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
{33:22} Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
***
The truth is outside of ourselves, only found in Jesus.
We're trapped in ourselves when we believe we can find any hope in ourselves outside of Jesus.
Life with all its heartaches and pains, illnesses and accidents, it can wrap itself around us drawing us away from Jesus as we only become absorbed with ourselves. Jesus is the truth, our Savior from the sin that has such a vile hold upon us. We need to step outside ourselves completely and trust in Him and Him only.
Easy to say? Hard to do? Only if we don't want the truth. Only if...
Eph. {4:17} This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind
{4:18} Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
{4:19} Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness
**
We aren't past feeling, we know, we see and we have to believe that Christ is our hope, our truth. Even if we don't feel right, we can know that beyond feeling we have Jesus as our Savior, Jesus who alone can save us from sin and the sin in our lives.
May Christ bless and keep us in Him even when life wraps us up in a thick, black darkness of hopelessness. We have to grasp the truth beyond feeling.
You can be born into a family of royalty- and know you're of royalty, but you don't have to live a life as one born of royalty you can turn your back on it all and throw away all the trappings of being royal- but it won't make you any less born of royalty. We are all called to be children of the King, but we don't have to wear the trappings, we can deny our heritage in Christ, we can deny Christ, but that doesn't change that we are called to be His children. Beyond the feelings, the emotions that can often trap us with their insidious hold over our lives blinding us to our freedom in Christ through His truth, beyond all that we can know. When things are the darkest the light is found in Christ. We can know, even when we feel further from the truth than ever. Let us use our knowledge beyond the feeling. Know.
May God bless and keep us all in His loving embrace through His son, through the grace and mercy of the truth in Jesus now and always.
Amen.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Let us be redeemed by God now and forever.
Ps. {31:5} ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’
God of truth.
The only God.
The only truth.
You can serve any god you want but there is only One God of truth.
David here isn’t dying, and yet he’s committing his spirit into God’s hand.
Our lives are made up of the spiritual, though people won’t often call it what it is, they use emotions to take the place of spiritual and that’s something very tricky. I’m in good spirits they’ll say, or I’m in low spirits- they’re talking about spirits in a way that take God out of the spiritual and that’s fine, it’s just not including the spirit we can commit to God.
‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit..’
Do we commit our spirit to God?
The part of us that can only be truly satisfied by God is a part that can be corrupt. Once again it’s is a part we can claim as our own to fill, or try to get another to fill, or we even try ‘things’ to fill that spot. We have to choose to commit our spirit to God, it’s not something that will ever be forced.
We can’t make the mistake that our will is only pointed towards God upon death. There are different meanings for the word spirit, and that’s a study all it’s own. When we commit our spirit into God’s hand we are redeemed. He is our Lord God of truth and we need our spirits connected with His.
God of truth.
Truth.
Who among us doesn’t want truth?
There are so many lies in our lives, so many we are told all the time. We equate lawyers with ‘bloodsucking liars’, we say politicians are all liars they have to be because they are immersed in a world of nothing but lies. The world we term as corporate is almost synonymous with lies and lying. People are duped, conned, the wool is pulled over their eyes and it hurts. Every single lie hurts something inside us. Those lying, those lied to and yet it never ends- it can’t seem to end. The old saying that we weave tangled webs when we start to lie is so true. Webs that we get caught up in so easily.
There are no sticky webs of lies with God, none. He is the truth.
We need to commit our lives to God, all of our lives, every part of our lives.
Truth.
Ps. {31:5} ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’
We need to commit our spirit to God, all of us. We need to place ourselves into His hand, He is the God of Truth.
We need truth.
We need God.
We need the love God possesses.
May God help us to see that the truth of Him is life, the only real life, the only real hope we have, everything else is lies.
With David let us cry to God—
Ps. {31:5} ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’
Let us be redeemed by God now and forever.
God of truth.
The only God.
The only truth.
You can serve any god you want but there is only One God of truth.
David here isn’t dying, and yet he’s committing his spirit into God’s hand.
Our lives are made up of the spiritual, though people won’t often call it what it is, they use emotions to take the place of spiritual and that’s something very tricky. I’m in good spirits they’ll say, or I’m in low spirits- they’re talking about spirits in a way that take God out of the spiritual and that’s fine, it’s just not including the spirit we can commit to God.
‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit..’
Do we commit our spirit to God?
The part of us that can only be truly satisfied by God is a part that can be corrupt. Once again it’s is a part we can claim as our own to fill, or try to get another to fill, or we even try ‘things’ to fill that spot. We have to choose to commit our spirit to God, it’s not something that will ever be forced.
We can’t make the mistake that our will is only pointed towards God upon death. There are different meanings for the word spirit, and that’s a study all it’s own. When we commit our spirit into God’s hand we are redeemed. He is our Lord God of truth and we need our spirits connected with His.
God of truth.
Truth.
Who among us doesn’t want truth?
There are so many lies in our lives, so many we are told all the time. We equate lawyers with ‘bloodsucking liars’, we say politicians are all liars they have to be because they are immersed in a world of nothing but lies. The world we term as corporate is almost synonymous with lies and lying. People are duped, conned, the wool is pulled over their eyes and it hurts. Every single lie hurts something inside us. Those lying, those lied to and yet it never ends- it can’t seem to end. The old saying that we weave tangled webs when we start to lie is so true. Webs that we get caught up in so easily.
There are no sticky webs of lies with God, none. He is the truth.
We need to commit our lives to God, all of our lives, every part of our lives.
Truth.
Ps. {31:5} ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’
We need to commit our spirit to God, all of us. We need to place ourselves into His hand, He is the God of Truth.
We need truth.
We need God.
We need the love God possesses.
May God help us to see that the truth of Him is life, the only real life, the only real hope we have, everything else is lies.
With David let us cry to God—
Ps. {31:5} ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’
Let us be redeemed by God now and forever.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Declaring His truth, His love for us.
Ps. {30:9} What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee?
shall it declare thy ********TRUTH******?
{30:10} Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me LORD,
be thou my helper.
**In death, we don’t praise God.
In death, we don’t declare God’s truth.
Declaring God’s truth.
I’ve been reading from a book called, ‘Mere Christianity’ by C.S. Lewis. Now, I don’t agree with it 100%, but I have to say 98% of it has hit home. Lewis tried to right a book that when outside of any one Christian faith, not for Catholics or Protestants be for any Christian or either main faith. I think for the most part he succeeded. If you haven’t read the book you should.
I bring up the book because in it Lewis talks in one section about living for heaven. I’m not going to give exact quotes, but he says something along the lines of if we live for heaven we’ll automatically live life here in a much better way. How those who don’t live for heaven actually have less respect for life here. It’s sort of paradoxical but I can understand what he was trying to say.
Living for heaven as a reality, a place where we will one day live, a place promised to us to be free of all the pain that we encounter in our lives, and others in theirs, a place where Jesus our Lord and Savior lives, living with heaven in our sights can be amazing. Knowing that the here and now isn’t all there is, it something Jesus did, something Jesus taught. He taught hope and placed the hope where it belonged- in Heaven.
Right here in this particular truth Psalm it says-
Ps. {30:9} What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee?
shall it declare thy ********TRUTH******?
{30:10} Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me LORD,
be thou my helper.
**
In death we are not able to praise God. In death we cannot declare the Lord’s truth.
We are to praise God and declare His truth.
John {17:17} Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John {1:1} In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
{1:2} The same was in the beginning with God.
{1:3} All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made.
{1:4} In him was life;
and the life was the light of men.
{1:5} And the light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not.
John {1:14} And the Word was made flesh,
And dwelt among us,
and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
**
Jesus is the truth, His way is the truth, He became man and brought with him grace and truth.
Declaring His truth, His love for us.
Jesus came to earth and sacrificed Himself for us out of love, and His apostles declared His truth, we are all to declare His truth in our lives, all of us.
Help us oh Lord God to declare Your truth, Your love, life in You now while we live. We can’t witness of You and Your love and mercy once we are dead, we have to witness for You now and we need You in us to do so. Bless and keep us Lord, by the mercy of Your amazing, all merciful, all loving Son, Jesus Christ, who came to declare You to the world, now and forever in Him, by His grace.
Amen.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Christ is our truth, He is our shield and buckler, our protection.
Ps. {91:4} He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:
his ****TRUTH*** shall be thy shield and buckler.
**
His truth a shield, a protection.
A shield against what?
Protection against what?
1 Pet. {5:8} ‘Be sober,
be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour’
Eph. {6:12} ‘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.’
**
We have Christ’s truth as our shield and buckler, as our protection. Truth protects us. Not against anything physical, not against the hurricane, the flood, the stalker, the murderer, the thief, not against heartache and pain, not against sorrows and death, no… Christ’s truth is eternal life, life everlasting, the future life, life with Him forever without any of those things. That is the truth, His love for us. The truth is the choice we make to follow after love, to accept the grace of Christ, the mercy He offers us. All we can do is choose. All we can do is make the choice for Him, to be His, to accept Him into our hearts, our lives—He does the rest, but we have to constantly allow him access to us by choosing Him. It’s a constant process in a way many aren’t fully aware of. It’s not something we can take a break from, in fact why would we want to?
We are in the middle of a war, the enemy is raging at us, he’ll stop at nothing to get to us, nothing! We have a protector, why in the world would we ever want to step out from behind that protection? Why? Has the enemy fooled us into thinking that he’s stopped attacking? I think he has, he’s fooled many with that tactic of his- there is no warfare, there is no battle, no fight at all and the air outside the protector’s covering is sweeter somehow, so who needs the protector when there isn’t a war? He’s the great deceiver Satan is, the great deceiver who will stop at not a single tactic to get each of us. The closer we get to Christ the more Satan wants to draw us away and he has ways beyond our imagining to work at us.
We need the constant presence of Christ in our lives. We need His constant protection and we get that by constantly choosing to be His, yes, His.It’s not something we can ever grow slack about. We grow slack and we leave the protection. Christ is our truth, He is our shield and buckler, our protection.Please Lord, please help us to remember always how much we need You in our lives and not just when we kneel to pray, not just when we bow our heads, not just when we wake up or go to sleep, not just when we thank You for the food You provide, not when we’ve made it through some hardship, not just when we’re suffering inconsolably. We need You always every step of the way. Guide us Lord, guide us to You, we want You to live in us, we want to be in You. Help us Lord, help us, protect us. We choose You now and always Lord. Now and always.
Amen.
his ****TRUTH*** shall be thy shield and buckler.
**
His truth a shield, a protection.
A shield against what?
Protection against what?
1 Pet. {5:8} ‘Be sober,
be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour’
Eph. {6:12} ‘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.’
**
We have Christ’s truth as our shield and buckler, as our protection. Truth protects us. Not against anything physical, not against the hurricane, the flood, the stalker, the murderer, the thief, not against heartache and pain, not against sorrows and death, no… Christ’s truth is eternal life, life everlasting, the future life, life with Him forever without any of those things. That is the truth, His love for us. The truth is the choice we make to follow after love, to accept the grace of Christ, the mercy He offers us. All we can do is choose. All we can do is make the choice for Him, to be His, to accept Him into our hearts, our lives—He does the rest, but we have to constantly allow him access to us by choosing Him. It’s a constant process in a way many aren’t fully aware of. It’s not something we can take a break from, in fact why would we want to?
We are in the middle of a war, the enemy is raging at us, he’ll stop at nothing to get to us, nothing! We have a protector, why in the world would we ever want to step out from behind that protection? Why? Has the enemy fooled us into thinking that he’s stopped attacking? I think he has, he’s fooled many with that tactic of his- there is no warfare, there is no battle, no fight at all and the air outside the protector’s covering is sweeter somehow, so who needs the protector when there isn’t a war? He’s the great deceiver Satan is, the great deceiver who will stop at not a single tactic to get each of us. The closer we get to Christ the more Satan wants to draw us away and he has ways beyond our imagining to work at us.
We need the constant presence of Christ in our lives. We need His constant protection and we get that by constantly choosing to be His, yes, His.It’s not something we can ever grow slack about. We grow slack and we leave the protection. Christ is our truth, He is our shield and buckler, our protection.Please Lord, please help us to remember always how much we need You in our lives and not just when we kneel to pray, not just when we bow our heads, not just when we wake up or go to sleep, not just when we thank You for the food You provide, not when we’ve made it through some hardship, not just when we’re suffering inconsolably. We need You always every step of the way. Guide us Lord, guide us to You, we want You to live in us, we want to be in You. Help us Lord, help us, protect us. We choose You now and always Lord. Now and always.
Amen.
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