The Lord Who Gives Me Counsel

“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;

    I have no good apart from you.’

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

    in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

    or take their names on my lips.

“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

    you hold my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

    in the night also my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me;

    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

    my flesh also dwells secure.

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

    or let your holy one see corruption.

You make known to me the path of life;

    in your presence there is fullness of joy;

    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalms 16:1-11 ESV)

We who are following Jesus Christ with our lives are going to have times when we are sick or afflicted or when we are being hounded and persecuted or when Satan is attacking us fiercely with his lies. We must not give in to the enemy! We must recognize that things are not normal and that we are under attack and that we must rely on the truth of God’s word despite our feelings. We will all have days like this. And this is especially when we must take refuge in the Lord and we must trust him with our circumstances.

Hopefully we are surrounded by other believers in Jesus Christ who are those who take God and his word to heart and who are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands and no longer in sin. Hopefully they are those who love the Lord Jesus and their fellow Christians and that they are those with whom we can share our burdens and who will pray for us. For we all need prayer. We all need encouragement, especially when we are under the attack of the enemy. We should delight in such saints as these.

Sadly, not everyone who professes the name of Jesus is walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, and not in sin. Many of them are running after “other gods,” i.e. the gods of this world and of the flesh. Many of them are still living in addiction to sin, making sin their practice, and not godliness, and not walks of obedience to the Lord. And the Lord does indeed say that he does not know them, and that they are not in fellowship with him, and that they will not have eternal life in him.

[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Galatians 5:16-21]

For if the Lord is our chosen portion and cup, we will delight in him and in his word and in walks of obedience to him in holy living. Our desire will be for him to do his will for our lives and not what this world is calling out to us to do, and not what human flesh craves. For we will rely on the word and the counsel of the Lord to guide and to direct us in the ways of righteousness. And we will trust him to get us through every trial without us wavering in unbelief. No matter what comes our way we will remain steadfast in him.

Apart from genuine faith in the Lord Jesus, or due to faith that is weak because of wrong messages which have been fed into our minds, perhaps over many years, we may be lacking in understanding of all that we have in Christ and of how powerful God really is to meet us in all of our circumstances. And so it is important that we study the Scriptures for ourselves, and that we read them in context, and that we believe what God’s word says, and that we apply its truths to our everyday lives.

For, if our lives are committed to Christ to do his will, and we are not walking in sin, but we are walking in obedience to our Lord, although perhaps not with absolute perfection, we will dwell secure in the knowledge of who God is and that he is completely sovereign over every aspect of our lives, and that he has a plan and a purpose for everything that he allows to come into our lives. And he will accomplish his will and purpose for us as we continue to surrender to him, and as we keep doing what he has called us to do.

But, with regard to having that assurance of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, that must be based upon the teachings of the New Testament in their full context regarding what constitutes genuine faith and salvation and eternal life in the life of one professing faith in the Lord Jesus. For not everyone who says “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father. For Jesus said that if we would come to him we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Songs in the Night  

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

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