Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

On My Side

Wednesday, January 7, 2015, 5:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “I Pray For Them.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 118 (selected verses ESV).

He Set Me Free!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever! ~ v. 1

Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
    the Lord answered me and set me free. ~ v. 5

“God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have life everlasting” (Jn. 3:16).

This morning, as I was reading through the words to this psalm and the words to the song from this morning, which is based off John 17, I found myself thinking about how God always was, and how he is our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and how, even before he created us he had a plan and a purpose for our lives, and how the plan all along was for the Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth to be born in human form, and to live on the face of this earth as fully man but also as fully God.

I don’t know about you, but when I think on these things it just blows me away! I cannot fathom the vastness of all of that or even begin to comprehend a triune God who always existed and whose plan it was to send the Son to die for our sins and then to send the Holy Spirit to indwell us who believe in the Son, Jesus Christ. My mind thinks in terms of beginning and end, yet I believe in Him, and I believe his Word, even though I don’t understand it all. I know my Redeemer lives, because he lives in me!

I believed in Jesus Christ when I was yet a young girl, so I didn’t have time to have a long sinful past, yet I did call out in my distress. My father was an abuser of the worst kind. And, I felt the pain and suffering of all that he did to me. I felt the weight of that sin upon me. I cried out to the Lord during an altar call at summer camp, repenting of my sin, and asking the Lord Jesus to save me of my sins. And, he answered me, and he set me free! Amen!

He is My Helper

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
    What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
    I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.

All nations surrounded me;
    in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
…I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
    but the Lord helped me. ~ vv. 6-13

My circumstances did not change, though. My father still abused me. Yet, the Lord was gracious to me in having me brought up in an evangelical church with a strong emphasis on missions and on holy living (the same denomination as A. W. Tozer). So, I learned a lot there about God’s grace, his mercy, his love, and his compassion towards me, and I grew in my faith and in my spiritual walk with Christ. And, he became my very best friend.

I believed very much so that my Lord was on my side, that he loved me, and that he was genuinely concerned for my welfare. I didn’t understand his sovereignty over my life, though, until much later in life. Although in my mind I believed he was all powerful, yet in my emotions I think I saw him more as just a comforter, healer, guide, and counselor, who had no real power to change my circumstances, and who had no control over my situations, but who was more just like a faithful friend to help me through the difficult times, and as someone to teach me how to live for God and to obey his word and to walk in his ways.

This mindset caused problems for me throughout my life, because I also did not fully comprehend Jesus’ power over Satan in my life, and the reality of what truly happened when he died and when he rose from the grave triumphant over sin. I did not fully understand his control and sovereignty over all things and all people in my life, so I often responded in fear and retreat, and sometimes in sin, although I certainly knew I was doing wrong when I sinned. I guess for me to believe that God was absolutely in control would have been to accept that he could have rescued me from my suffering, but he didn’t, and perhaps that was more than my human mind was willing to accept at that time.

But, thanks be to God, he didn’t leave me there. He brought me through some very difficult times in my life to the realization of his absolute sovereignty and control over every aspect of my life. He told me I needed to forgive Jesus, although Jesus had done no wrong, but because my actions showed that I was angry with Jesus for not rescuing me, and/or that I lacked faith to trust him with every aspect of my life. And, so, I submitted to God’s absolute sovereignty over my life, and I decided from that point on that I would trust him with my circumstances and with the people in my life, believing that he has my good always in mind, and that he allows what he allows in my life for his purposes and for his glory – to make me the person he wants me to be, so he can use me the way he intended all along.

I Will Recount

The Lord is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation
    are in the tents of the righteous…
I shall not die, but I shall live,
    and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has disciplined me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death. ~ vv. 14-18

Even though I had failed God greatly, and I had times in my life when I sinned against him seriously, he did not reject me as his servant. Even before I was formed by God in the womb of my mother, God had a plan and a purpose for my life (See Jeremiah 1 and Psalm 139). Certainly he did not lead me into sin, or cause me to sin, and he did not cause my dad or others to sin against me, and there were others. Yet, he allowed all those situations in my life to teach me, mature me, to mold me and to make me into the person he had created me to be for his purposes and for his glory, and for such a time as this.

And, then he called me to write down what he teaches me each day through his word, through song, and through the witness of his Spirit within me, and to place these writings on the internet for the encouragement of the body of Christ, to share his gospel of salvation, to address idolatry and spiritual adultery within the church, to point out false teaching and deception, to warn of judgment, and to call the church to repentance. And, his grace, his help, his strength and his Spirit within me have sustained me, and have kept me from falling, and have given me endurance, passion, compassion, understanding, wisdom and discernment to know the troubled times in which we live; and to persevere even in the face of rejection and persecution; and to keep on recounting the deeds of the Lord.

He is My Savior

Open to me the gates of righteousness,
    that I may enter through them
    and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing;
    it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it. ~ vv. 19-24

I am so thankful for my salvation, and that Jesus Christ set me free! I am also so grateful that he is on my side, that he had a plan and a purpose for my life from the beginning, and that he saw me through those difficult years to bring me to the place where he wanted me to be, so he could use me in the way he intended all along. I am so appreciative that he did not give up on me, even when I wandered away from him and his will for my life, but that he was patient with me, and that he lifted me out of the pit and placed my feet on a solid rock, and that he gave me a firm place to stand so that I may sing of him and not be silent!

I am also so glad that my Lord and my Savior willingly left his throne in heaven to come to earth, and to take on human form, and to suffer and to be tempted in like manner as we are tempted and we suffer, yet without sin, so that he could become our compassionate and merciful high priest, and also so he could be our sacrificial Lamb in dying for our sins. I am not glad that he had to suffer, but I am thankful that I have a Lord who understands and who feels my pain, and who has gone before me and has prepared the way so that when I go through rejection and persecution and abandonment that he is there to give me all that I need to endure, to persevere, and to keep on loving others with his love, even those who do evil against me. He is my foundation, in whom I place all my trust!

I Pray for Them / An Original Work / June 4, 2013

Based off John 17

“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son
May glorify our God in heav’n.
Father, You granted Him all power
And all authority over men,
That He might give eternal life
To all those whom now
You have given Him.”

“This now then is eternal life:
That they may know You,
Father, and Your Son;
That they may know the only true God,
And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
I have brought You the glory by
Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”

“I have shown You to those whom
You gave to Me out of the world;
They were Yours. You gave them to Me
And they have obeyed Your words
And they accepted them. They knew
That I came from You, and they believed
With certainty, I was sent.”

“Holy Father, I pray for them by the
Power of Your name: Protect them,
So that they may be one as we are,
For they are still living in this world.
I have given them Your word;
Because of Your word, the world
Has hated them.”

“I pray they may have the full measure of
My joy now living within them.
Father, I pray You sanctify them
By Your word; truly Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world,
I send them to tell the world to repent.”



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