Psalm 63:1-5 NASB
O God, You are my God;
I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for
You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Thus I have seen You
in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and
Your glory.
Because Your
lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise
You.
So I will bless You as
long as I live;
I will lift up my
hands in Your name.
My soul is satisfied
as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers
praises with joyful lips.
When I was a child, I was abused by my earthly father, but
that only drew me close to my heavenly Father. Jesus became my best friend and
my strength and comfort, particularly in times of sadness and pain. God was and
still is the love of my life. He is my hope, my joy and my song.
But, the closer that I drew to God, the more I faced
opposition from other human beings, but that, as well, only drew me to call on
God even more, and to draw me near to him. I desired my Lord greatly, and I
feasted on His Word, and my heart’s desire was to obey him in all things. But, that
only brought more opposition into my life, and coming from within the church and
from family members, and not just from people out in the world.
I wish that I could say that was my full testimony, that I
remained steadfast in my relationship with the Lord despite all opposition, but
it isn’t. As most of you probably know by now, years ago I was led down the
wrong path by my husband, and we both entered into a time of moral depravity
together for a period of several years. (Our testimonies are on the internet.)
But, the Lord was not finished with me, and so he pulled me up
out of that pit, and he restored me back to a right relationship with him.
Praise His Name! All glory to God!
The Lord then turned my life around and he put me on a path which
is even stronger in my relationship with him than ever before, and fully
determined to walk daily in purity, holiness, righteousness, honesty and
faithfulness. And, that is the road I have been on since that time, all glory
to God. Great things He has done!
But, because of where I have been and what I have done in
the past, and because of God’s grace to me, I am all the more appreciative of
God’s grace which rescues us out of our pits we fall into. I am appreciative of
his loving patience towards me, too, and that he waited on me to return to him,
and then he brought me back into wonderful fellowship with him. And, so I do
seek him earnestly, and I do thirst for him, and “in a dry and weary land where
there is no water,” too.
For, so many people who profess the name of Jesus have
fallen by the wayside and they have gone after the things of this world, and
the lusts of their flesh, and they have adopted a false grace gospel in order
to appease their consciences, too. So much of today’s church has gone the way
of the world and they have diluted the gospel, too, to appeal to human flesh,
and so they coddle people in their sins instead of leading them to full
repentance and changed lives by the power of the Spirit of God.
And, thus, many pastors, teachers and church goers are
caught up in sinful addictions, adultery, porn, and idolatry. And, the mood of
the church is reflected by this, too.
So, if you are one who stands up for what is right, and who
teaches moral purity, and who stands on the Word of Truth, and honors God with
your life, you are like in a desert because there are not many people joining
in with you, but there are many who will oppose you.
Psalm 63:6-8 NASB
When I remember You on
my bed,
I meditate on You in
the night watches,
For You have been my
help,
And in the shadow of
Your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand
upholds me.
I can now, with full confidence, state that this describes
my relationship with the Lord. All glory to God! The Lord talks to me all
throughout the day and night, and I am in continual communication with him, as
well. He is on my mind when I awake in the morning, and he is on my mind and
heart when I go to bed at night, too. And, nearly every morning he wakens me
with a song in my mind which is to go with my quiet time with him in his Word.
And, yes, the Lord has been my help. Amen! He helped me
yesterday via the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ to remain awake
so that I could write my devotion, as I had been struggling for days to stay
awake, and he is helping me today to stay awake, too, all glory to God. Amen!
But, it isn’t just things like that which he helps me with,
but he helps me to remain strong in my faith and to persevere when my husband
has and perhaps still is floundering, and when he has and perhaps still is
living in adultery against me, his wife. My Lord then heals my wounded heart,
and he gives me the strength to keep loving, to keep forgiving, and to keep
hoping that one day things will change for the better.
For, when my husband and others forsake me, the Lord holds
me fast to him, and he does not let me go. He holds me tenderly in his arms of
love and he assures me of his love and his watch and care over my life. He
ministers to my spirit when I feel rejected and cast aside because of my walk
of faith in Jesus Christ, too. And, I do cling to my Lord, especially during
those times of loneliness and when I am feeling betrayed.
Psalm 63:9-11 NASB
But those who seek my
life to destroy it,
Will go into the
depths of the earth.
They will be delivered
over to the power of the sword;
They will be a prey
for foxes.
But the king will
rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by
Him will glory,
For the mouths of
those who speak lies will be stopped.
My husband has sought my life to destroy it most all of our
marriage, by his own adulteries and lies and by him pushing me to join in with
him in his depravity, for a time, until I said a final “No” to him, that I would
no longer go there. And, then his anger burned against me, and then he tried to
destroy me in other ways through trickery, manipulations, play acting, false
accusations, outbursts of anger, and snide and cutting remarks, etc., intended
to hurt me and to cause me harm. (He has given testimony of these actions
towards me on his blog on the internet.)
But, the Lord has been my support through it all, and he is
carrying me and guiding me in the way he would have me to go. But, I know, too,
that I am not alone in this. For, porn and/or lust addiction is epidemic in our
society and even inside the church of today. So many men, even “Christian” men
are addicted or are regular participants in the use of porn or extramarital
affairs (romantic or sexual), or private chats with someone of interest behind
the backs of their spouses, or they are involved with sex-texting, etc.
They are going after broken cisterns which do not hold
water, and they are using “spare parts” along with their broken relationships
rather than fixing the relationships. And, they are hiding what they are doing
in secret, thinking that no one knows, and that no one will find out, for they
are very good at hiding and covering their tracks. But, God sees, and their
actions are not hidden from him, none of ours are, and one day their evil deeds
will be exposed for what they are, and their lies and deceptions will be
stopped.
But, we, who are on the receiving end of the lies, the
manipulations, the adulteries, and the like (whether male or female), must
forgive those who have hurt us, who have betrayed us, turned against us and
have lied to us. And, we must love them and pray for them and do good to them
and hope that they will one day turn their lives over to Jesus Christ and they
will make him truly Lord of their lives. We pray that they will forsake their
evil ways and that they will now walk in truth and in victory over darkness,
instead of opening the door to darkness to reign in their lives.
For, if they continue down their dark paths, and they
continue to live in adultery and to practice what is immoral, and then to cover
it with lies, even lies against their spouses, judgment awaits them on the
other end, not eternal life with God, as they have hoped. So, don’t be fooled.
God cannot be mocked. We will all reap what we sow. If we sow to please the
flesh, from the flesh we will reap corruption. But, if we sow to please the
Spirit, from the Spirit we will then reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8; cf. Gal.
5:19-21; Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Rom. 6:1-23; et
al.).
Give
Them All to Jesus
Phil
Johnson / Bob Benson Sr. 1975
Give
them all, give them all,
Give
them all to Jesus -
Shattered
dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.
Give
them all, give them all,
Give
them all to Jesus,
And
He will turn your sorrows into joy.
Sunday, October 7, 2018 – Lord Jesus, help us all to walk
with you in purity, in holiness, in godliness, in integrity and in faithfulness
to you and to our spouses, and to love others with your love and to follow you
in obedience.
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