Thursday, January 15,
2015, 8:30 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “My Cry for Mercy.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 140-143 (selected NASB).
Rescue Me
Rescue
me, O Lord, from evil men;
Preserve
me from violent men
Who
devise evil things in their hearts;
They
continually stir up wars.
They
sharpen their tongues as a serpent;
Poison
of a viper is under their lips. Selah. ~ Ps. 140:1-3
Set
a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep
watch over the door of my lips.
Do
not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To
practice deeds of wickedness
With
men who do iniquity;
And
do not let me eat of their delicacies. ~ Ps. 141:3-4
There are two main ways the enemy of our souls comes against
us as individual followers of Jesus Christ. One is through attacking us
physically, emotionally or spiritually to try to discredit, injure or to destroy
us; to try to get us to be discouraged, and to hope that we will give up. The
other is to deceive us, lure us and to tempt us to sin against our Lord. Yet
temptation can be involved in either one, as well as deception is also involved
in both.
From my own experience I can say that if Satan cannot get us
to stop following Jesus with our lives, to stop sharing the gospel, and to,
instead, follow him and to go back into sin, then he will pull out all the
stops to lie against, mock, persecute, and bring false charges against us, in
hopes that he can destroy our reputations, convince others to not listen to us,
and/or to put doubts and fears into our minds and hearts. He is a master at
deception and the twisting and manipulation of truth, and with using an
accusing and lying tongue against us. And, he uses humans to do his dirty work,
too.
So, what should our response be to his wicked schemes he
uses against us? Well, first of all we must call on the Lord in prayer and ask
for his help – for guidance, wisdom, discernment and the grace to respond
correctly. We also need the strength of the Lord and the power of the Spirit
within us so that we respond in the right way. If we try to handle this in our
own wisdom and strength, we are bound to fail. We need to pray for our Lord
Jesus to work miracles in our hearts and in our situations, and to move
mightily to change hearts, even or most especially our own. And, we need to
submit to his sovereign will over our lives. As well, we need to pray for
restraint so that we don’t say more than what needs to be said.
Daily we must put on the armor of God (See: Eph. 6:10-20),
with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us. What this means is
that when he lies to us or against us, we answer back with the truth. When he
casts doubts our way, we respond back with unswerving faith. When he tries to
twist the truth or to deceive us, we respond with the Word of God. When he
tries to discourage us, we respond with perseverance and determination. When he
tries to tempt us to sin, we respond by fleeing temptation and continuing to live
and to walk in Christ’s righteousness. And, when he tries to lure us or to
shame us into spiritual compromise, we respond with undivided hearts and
loyalty to our ONLY God.
My
Cry For Mercy / An Original Work / October 31, 2013
Based
off Psalm 86
Hear my prayer, Lord, I am needy.
Guard my life, for I’m devoted to You.
Save me! I’m Your servant.
You are my God. I trust in You.
O, Lord, have mercy on me,
For I call to You.
Bring joy to me, for to You
I will lift up my soul.
You are giving and forgiving.
You abound in love to all who
Call upon You. Hear my prayer, Lord.
Listen to my cry for mercy.
In days of trouble I call to You,
Knowing that You will
Do marvelous things,
Because You are my God.
Teach me Your way; I’ll walk in it.
In Your truth, Lord, You will guide me.
A pure heart, Lord, You will give me,
So that I may glorify You.
Turn to me, Lord, and grant
Strength to Your servant.
O, Lord, You are my help,
For You love and You comfort me.
Teach me Your way; I’ll walk in it.
In Your truth, Lord, You will guide me.
A pure heart, Lord, You will give me,
So that I may glorify You.
Teach Me
Let
me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For
I trust in You;
Teach
me the way in which I should walk;
For
to You I lift up my soul.
Deliver
me, O Lord, from my enemies;
I
take refuge in You.
Teach
me to do Your will,
For
You are my God;
Let
Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For
the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In
Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. ~ Ps. 143:8-11
Oh, how I love my Lord and his Word. I want to follow him in
all my ways, not because I have to, but because I want to; because I love him.
I know he loves me, and I know he is with me all the time. He never leaves my
side. He is always there encouraging, giving me hope, strengthening,
comforting, teaching, instructing, correcting and urging me on to live for him.
I believe in him and I trust him with my life. I know that in all these trials
and tribulations that he has a plan and a purpose, and that he will use it all
for his purposes and for his glory. I just have to rest in him, believing that
he has my best interest in mind always.
I want to know his will for my life, and I want to walk in
his ways and in his truth. I don’t want to respond to Satan’s attacks against
me in the flesh, but in the Spirit. So, I pray that he will teach me the way in
which I should walk and how to know and to do his will. I want to be led on
level ground, and for him to put a guard over my mouth so that I don’t speak
things he does not want me to speak, whether good or bad. I need wisdom and
discernment to know how to respond to Satan’s evil attacks against me. And, I
need strength of spirit, too, so that I don’t lose heart.
In
Keeping Them / An Original Work / June 3, 2014
Based
off Ps. 111:10; 19:7-11
Stand in awe of your Lord.
Harken to His teachings.
Follow where He leads you.
Live for Him today.
Through Him you gain wisdom;
Knowledge; understanding.
To my Lord belongs all
Worship and my praise.
Perfect is the Word,
Refreshing souls in His love.
His commands are faithful,
Guiding us each day.
Joy comes to the heart of
Those who love His teachings;
Follow His instructions.
He will light their way.
Abide in the Lord, and
Obey His commandments.
His Word is more precious
Than all of our gold.
By His Word He warns us,
Comforts, and implores us.
When we follow His Word,
There is great reward.
No comments:
Post a Comment