Tuesday, September 26, 2017, 4:36 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Lord, I Need You.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Psalm 27 (Select
vv. ESV).
Be Confident
(vv. 1-3)
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I
fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom
shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me
to eat up my
flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they
who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart
shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will
be confident.
We all go through struggles,
from time to time, whether they involve solely temptations to sin against God, or
they involve hardships, persecutions, financial difficulties, physical enemies
pursuing us, marital problems, troubles with our children, disasters, loneliness,
or having to make difficult decisions, or plans not working out the way we had
hoped. And, we may be tempted to respond in fear, doubt, worry, anger,
frustration, disappointment or in retreating back to sinful habits as a way of
numbing the pain.
Yet, whatever difficulty,
trouble, hardship or temptation we might be facing, our God is all-sufficient
to meet our every need, and to give us all we need to remain faithful to him,
to rest in him, to trust him with our life situations, and to believe him for
the strength and power to endure, to resist Satan, and to flee the temptation
to sin against God. In fact, through Jesus’ death on a cross for our sins, he
made the way of escape for us out of temptation to sin, for he conquered sin
and death for us via his death and resurrection.
As well, we read in Ephesians
6:12 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. It isn’t to say that we
don’t have physical enemies or that we won’t be hated and persecuted by other
humans, for we will, if we follow Jesus. But, it is to say that the real forces
against us are of Satan and his demons and that this is a spiritual battle that
must be won with spiritual weapons of warfare, not with physical weapons or
with human scheming. So, this is why God has given us spiritual armor (Eph.
6:10-20) to apply to our lives every day so that we can fight off temptation to
sin against him, that is the temptation to sin by telling lies, cheating,
immorality, fear, and doubt, etc. So, daily we must put this armor on, if we
are to be victorious in this battle.
So, how do we do this? How do
we make the Lord the stronghold of our lives so that we don’t fear, and so we
don’t give into temptation, and so we are confident in Christ in our battles?
When we are afraid, we put off fear, and we put on faith. When Satan lies to
us, we counter him with the truth, more specifically with the truth of God’s
Word. Then, we choose to believe the truth and not the lies. And, when tempted
toward immorality, we resist Satan, and FLEE the temptation. Too many people
give into temptation to sin because they play with sin and they don’t FLEE. And,
involved in fleeing is also being proactive by cutting out of our lives those
things which lead us to sin against God. For, if we play with the fire, we are
going to get burned!
Sing Praises
(vv. 4-6)
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I
seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days
of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to
inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day
of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift
me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up
above my
enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices
with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
When difficulties arise or
when we are faced with temptation toward fear or toward immorality, etc., we
need to immediately seek the Lord. We must call on him for help. But, it is
pointless to call on him if we have no intention of listening to or obeying
him, or if we are not willing to cut out of our lives what is leading us into
sin. In other words, we cannot resist the temptation to have immoral thoughts
or actions or to give in to fear if every day we are willingly taking into our
minds and eyes what is immoral or which feeds fear and doubt, and for the
purpose of entertaining ourselves. We have to decide if we are going to be
serious about God and holiness or not. If we are serious, our Lord Jesus, via
His Spirit, will help us every step of the way.
One of the best antidotes to
fear, doubt and worry is to sing praises to God. Satan loves to whisper lies in
our ears, or to get us to stay focused on the waves crashing in all around us,
i.e. he likes to get us to think about all the negatives of a situation, and
even to create non-existent ones in our own minds (paranoia). So, when we
realize we are down in the dumps, and that our minds are dwelling on all the “what
ifs” of a situation, we need to stop, pray, and sing songs of praise to our
Lord, and songs which will strengthen us in our faith and which will combat
Satan’s lies with God’s truth.
Follow Jesus
(vv. 11-14)
Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me
on a level path
because of
my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false
witnesses have risen against me,
and they
breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the
Lord
in the land
of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong,
and let your heart take courage;
wait for the
Lord!
If we truly desire God’s
help, these words here have to be more than just words coming from our lips.
Again, there is no point in asking for his guidance and direction if we are not
going to listen to him and follow him. If we truly want to be taught his way,
then we need to be willing to walk in the way that he shows us. So, don’t say
it if you don’t mean it. God knows the difference. We can fool other humans,
but we can’t fool God. He knows our hearts, and he knows who are serious about
following him, and who are just playing games or are going through a religious
exercise.
So, if you or I truly want to
be taught the ways of the Lord, then we need to be willing to go the distance
with God. We can’t pick and choose what we will obey and what we won’t, or to
what extent we will be willing to obey. We need to have undivided hearts that
don’t vacillate back and forth between what we want and what God desires for
our lives. A level path is not a roller coaster ride. It is steady, even,
sincere, committed and determined. And, we have to stay the course, but not in
our own strength or willpower, but in the strength of the Lord and in his power
and might.
I cannot stress enough that a
godly life is a committed and determined life given over to God and to his
service, and it takes sin and God and his Word seriously, and it does not take
lightly his grace to us. His grace, after all, is not freedom to continue in
sin without guilt or remorse. It is not carte blanche (free rein) to live
however we want now that we are under grace. No! His grace, which brings
salvation, instructs us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we await his return. So,
don’t give way to the enemy! Be strong in the Lord, and in his strength. Take
courage and put your trust in God alone!
Lord, I Need You
Songwriters: Christy Nockels
/ Daniel Carson /
Jesse Reeves / Kristian
Stanfill / Matt Maher
Lord, I come, I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
Without You I fall apart
You're the One that guides my
heart
Lord, I need You, oh, I need
You…
My one defense, my
righteousness…
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