Monday, December 03,
2012, 5:33 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me this morning with this song, “Sing Praises.” Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Psalm 11
(NIV 1984):
In the Lord I take
refuge.
How then can you say to me:
“Flee like a bird to your mountain.
For look, the wicked
bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the
shadows
at the upright in heart.
When the foundations
are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
The Lord is in his
holy temple;
the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons
of men;
his eyes examine them.
The Lord examines the
righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence
his soul hates.
On the wicked he will
rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.
For the Lord is
righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.
Flee or Pursue?
Have you ever noticed that the more you follow Jesus Christ
in obedience, the more resistance you get? The Bible describes Satan as a
roaring lion roaming around looking for someone to devour. And, the ones he
wants to devour most are those who are loving, serving, and who are obeying
Jesus Christ with their lives; and who are being his witnesses for the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
The devil has all kinds of evil schemes in his bag of tricks
that he likes to use against us. He knows our weak spots, and those are the
areas where he will most likely focus the point of his flaming arrows, too. Sometimes
he attacks our emotions, our thoughts, and/or our attitudes directly, and other
times he uses human instruments to fling or to hurl his arrows and darts
against us. I believe some of the greatest weapons he likes to wield against us
are darts and arrows of doubt and/or fear.
So, when Satan bends the bow and sets his arrows against the
strings of the bow to shoot his arrows at us, whether or not he uses human
instruments as his arrows, we have a choice to make. We can either flee like a
bird (escape; run away), or we can stand firm in our faith, resist Satan, cast
our anxiety on God, and put on the full armor of God so that we can take our
stand against the devil’s schemes (see Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Pet. 5:7-9).
Satan is a BIG FAT LIAR! He loves to put all kinds of doubts
and fears into our minds because his ultimate goal is to get us to doubt God
and to fear our circumstances, which also doubts God, because fear is the
opposite of faith.
A Personal Example
As a child, I faced a great deal of abuse in my home. I grew
up in the church, so I learned about God and his love from infancy. I invited Jesus
Christ into my life to be my Lord and Savior when I was a young child, and I
made it my goal to live for the Lord. Yet, I had an abusive human father. I
knew God loved me, and I drew on his love all the time, yet somehow I had
gained this picture of God (subconsciously) as limited in his ability to have
control over my circumstances. I saw people and circumstances frequently as
overwhelmingly against me, and many of them were, in reality, yet I had this
helpless feeling of an abused child, unable to fight off my abuser. My response
to the “arrows” of Satan, often coming through human beings, was to call on God,
and was to rely on him for strength to make it through, but most always with a
feeling that somehow these “darts” were greater than God. I even one time said
to God, “But God, you don’t understand!” How foolish I was then!
Anyway, I carried this false concept of God into adulthood,
not realizing that is what I was doing. Because I saw God as limited in power
over my circumstances, my circumstances frequently would get the best of me,
and I would give way to them, i.e. I would flee like a bird, because I thought
the circumstances were too powerful for me. I often fought off temptation like
an abused child would fight off an abuser with my arms crossed in front of my
face, hoping to not get hit again, yet realizing the inevitable was probably
going to take place. I had a victim mentality instead of a victor mentality.
And, it was because I truly did not grasp the sovereignty of God in my life and
his absolute power over all circumstances in my life, and because I had a
skewed concept of what the cross of Jesus Christ really did for me, that I frequently
gave way to doubt and to fear.
Then, one day it all made sense to me. God opened my eyes,
and I realized I had believed a lie of Satan. God was absolutely in control
(and still is) of every circumstance in my life. Before I was even formed in
the womb of my mother God had a plan and a purpose for my life. He placed me in
that home for a reason, and he was in complete control, even though I felt as
though my world was very much out of control at the time. He was and still is
quite capable of handling any darts or arrows Satan might throw my way, and he
will give me all I need (his armor) with which to fight off those flaming
arrows of Satan. Jesus Christ conquered Satan, hell, death and sin on the
cross, so I have no reason to ever fear any of these or to give way to any of
these, because Jesus already won the battle for me. Amen! I can confidently
resist Satan and stand firm in my faith because of what Jesus did for me.
I Take Refuge
Taking refuge in the Lord is much more than just leaning on
his everlasting arms for comfort and encouragement during hard times. And, this
is what I learned the hard way. Taking refuge in the Lord also entails
understanding intellectually, emotionally and with our whole hearts the reality
of God’s power over all our circumstances, and that all the days ordained for
us were written in his book before one of them came into being (see Ps. 139). Nothing
escapes God’s notice. He is not missing in action when things go awry. He was
there all the time. No one or no dart of Satan is too powerful for God. If we
are the Lord’s, he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. He is not weak!
If he allows us to go through difficulties, he has a purpose in them for our
lives to teach us perseverance, to strengthen us in character, mind, spirit and
will, and to mature us and to mold us into his image.
I believe with all my heart that I was placed in the home of
my parents so that God could make me into the person I am today, and so he
could use me in the way he is now engaging me in ministry. If I had not gone
through many of the difficulties I have faced in my life-time, I believe I
would not be prepared to do what I am now doing. Through difficulties he taught
me perseverance; stamina, stick-to-it-ness, and he gave me a sense of the
awesomeness of God’s hand upon my life “for such a time as this.” No matter
what resistance I may face in the line of duty in service to my Lord, I must
keep on keeping on by standing on the faith God has given me, and by resting in
all his promises. I must daily put on the armor of God, so that I can fight off
the devil’s schemes, I must resist Satan and his tricks to get me to give way
to fear, and I must confidently remain assured of God’s absolute sovereignty
over my life and circumstances, and of his divine purposes for my life.
In All Practicality
One practical thing I do, which I believe helps a great
deal, is that I journal what the Lord Jesus teaches me each day through his
word. I also post on the internet the lessons I learn through his word, in
obedience to my Lord, and in the hope that he may use what he teaches me to
encourage the hearts of others of his followers. The posting on the internet
aside, though, many times when Satan is hurling his darts at me and I am
tempted to doubt or to give way to fear, I can go back to what I have written
and I can read what the Lord taught me, and how he answered my prayers or my
inquiries of him, and I can use the Lord’s words as part of my spiritual armor
against Satan’s attacks against my mind. I am not speaking of doubting my
salvation or anything that basic here, but I am speaking of Satan’s darts that
he likes to throw against me (and you) in my (your) daily spiritual walk with
my (your) Lord and in obedience to him and to his service. Satan wants nothing
more than to get God’s children to stop doing what God has called and equipped
them to do.
One other huge thing the Lord is still teaching me is to
give him praise no matter what I am going through. I think sometimes we get
bogged down with our circumstances and we get so focused on what we are going
through that, again, we lose sight of God and the fact that he is very much on
his throne in his holy temple, and that he not only knows what is going on, but
he has allowed it for a purpose, so we need to praise him and thank him for allowing
us to go through difficulties so that he can make us into the people of God he
wants us to be. Even if we can’t thank him for the difficulties, we can praise
him in the storms of our lives. Also, when we respond to our circumstances with
praise and thanksgiving, it completely alters our attitudes for the good.
So, I choose to sing praises to God even when I don’t feel
like it or even when my circumstances don’t particularly warrant praise, in the
natural, and I choose to trust my Lord and his sovereignty over all things in
my life and to not give way to fear. Amen!
Sing Praises / An
Original Work / November 30, 2012
Based off Psalms 6-9
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Tell of His wond’rous
works.
Afflicted, they cry
out;
The Lord will not
forget;
The needy, not desert.
The Lord’s our refuge
now;
A stronghold when we fear.
The Lord will ne’er
forsake
The ones, who Him
pursue!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
With all my heart I
sing.
I will rejoice in Him;
Sing praises to His
name;
Tell of His wond’rous
works.
My shield is God Most
High.
He saves those who
believe
In Jesus Christ, God’s
Son.
His grace has pardoned
you!
The Lord accepts my
prayer!
The Lord has heard my
cries.
He is so merciful.
He heals my anguished
soul.
The Lord has made me
whole.
Give thanks unto the
Lord.
Give praise unto His
name.
Our Lord is righteousness.
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
MP3, Song Lyrics and Sheet Music w/chords (free):
Video: http://youtu.be/O44mco9f3YU
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