Psalms 118:5-7 ESV
“Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
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.”
“Hate” can mean to
revile, to persecute, to speak evil against, to accuse falsely, to deliver up
to the courts on false pretenses, to physically abuse, to deliver over to
death, to betray, to malign, to deliver up to tribulation, to put to death, to
exclude, to spurn your name as evil, to imprison, to be betrayed even by family
members to the death, to detest, to denounce, to censure, to vilify, to
discard, to reject, to oppress, to hound, and to torment, etc.
[Matt. 5:10-12; Matt. 10:16-25; Matt. 24:9-14; Lu. 6:22-23;
Lu. 21:12-17; Jn. 15:18-21]
And if we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if
we are dying with him to sin and living to him and to his righteousness, and if
we are walking in obedience to his commands, and if we are sharing the gospel
of our salvation with others, we should be experiencing some or all of these
types of hate mentioned here from others, some of whom could be fellow
Christians (or professing Christians) and/or our immediate family members.
Now, the Lord does not always deliver us from such hate for
he promised us that we would be treated thus if we are his true followers. But
he will deliver us from the fear and from the impact and the influence of such
treatment against us so that we do not lose heart, and so that we don’t get
discouraged and give up and run away. He will help us to remain steadfast and
to keep on doing the will of God and to keep loving all people.
Psalms 118:8-9 ESV
“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.”
Amen! As humans we are subject to failure and to disappointing
others. Many humans these days are deliberately and habitually sinning against
others, even those they profess to love, or who they are supposed to love and
to protect. Many are liars, cheats, misfits, abusers, users, manipulators,
adulterers, con artists, and actors playing a role they are not living.
Many are professing one thing while they are living the
opposite. Many are wolves in sheep’s clothing, mere charlatans out to deceive
and to destroy. Some of them are pastors and elders of church congregations.
Many are politicians supposedly serving the people but who are serving
themselves, instead. Many are in the media industry out to deceive the masses.
It appears that not many people these days are truth
tellers. I am certain there are still people in this world who tell the truth,
but we seem to be in the minority. Even many pastors today are being trained to
lie, to manipulate, to scheme, to trick, and to take advantage of others in
order to achieve their goals for building their earthly kingdoms.
So, this is why the Scriptures warn us all the time against
putting our trust in other humans. And it is why we are warned to look out for
those who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, and why we are instructed that we
must test the spirits to see if they are of God or not. For not many people
tell the truth these days, and many false teachings abound.
Psalms 118:10-13 ESV
“All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.”
We will have individuals or groups of people as our enemies,
but we will also have nations as our enemies, even our own nations, from the
level of government and administration. For, in case you haven’t been paying
attention, Revelation 13 is being fulfilled before our very eyes in our day and
time. The beast is rising and he/it/they is/are taking over the world.
Nation after nation is being taken down by this beastly New
World Order to where we are now being brought into a one world totalitarian
regime one step and one day and one incident at a time. More and more our
freedoms are being taken from us and our privacy is non-existent. “They” are
listening to us everywhere, especially if we are connected to computers and to
the internet, which I must be to do what I do each day.
There is no going back to the way things were, I don’t
believe. We are now in route to this rule of this beast as more and more they
gain even more control over our lives and our decisions. It is a different
world now. So, we need to be aware so that we are not taken by surprise and end
up following after the beast and rejecting the Lord.
Put your hope and trust fully in God and in his word and don’t
believe everything you hear coming out of the mouths of government leaders or
the news media or pastors or medical professionals. Just think end times and
the book of Revelation and realize that not everything is as it appears, for
there is much deception going on. So test everything!!
Psalms 118:14-16 ESV
“The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!’”
Bottom line: The Lord is our strength and our song. He alone
is our salvation. Please do not put your hope in any human to save you from
anything!! And our salvation is not just deliverance from hell and the promise
of heaven when we die. Jesus died to deliver us from our bondage (addiction,
slavery) to sin so we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness.
So, if you have not done so, surrender your lives to Jesus
Christ today. Die with him to sin that you might live to his righteousness.
Forsake your lives of living for sin and self and now follow the Lord Jesus in
obedience to his commands, by his grace, through God-given faith in Jesus
Christ. And walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.
For, if you walk according to the flesh, you will die in
your sins. You will not inherit eternal life with God no matter what you say
you believe or that you have confessed with your mouth. For, Jesus said that if
we are going to come after him we must deny self and die daily with him to sin
and walk in obedience to his commands and we will have life in him.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn
1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]
For Those Tears I Died
Words and Music by Marsha J. and Russ Stevens
You said You'd come and share all my sorrows
You said You'd be there for all my tomorrows
I came so close to sending You away
But just like You promised, You came here to stay
I just had to pray
Your goodness so great, I can't understand
And dear Lord I know that all this was planned
I know You're here now and always will be
Your love loosed my chains, and in You I'm free
But Jesus why me?
Jesus I give You my heart and my soul
I know that without God I’d never be whole
Savior, You opened all the right doors
And I thank You and praise You from earth's humble shores
Take me I’m Yours
And Jesus said,
“Come to the water, stand by my side
I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied
I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried
And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIrizhT_ckU
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