I Implore You

I Implore You

December 6, 2012

We read in Romans 12, verses 1-2:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

To urge someone to do something is to advise him strongly. The urging may involve a warning or caution against something, and/or it could include a rebuke or a correction, but most certainly it is not merely a suggestion or a good idea being passed along to the listener. In other places in scripture, these same or similar teachings were given as commands and/or as directives, and it was expected that the adherents would follow the directions given. So, we should take this teaching to heart and apply its truths to our daily lives.

If any of you has children, you have probably experienced the joy of the “Why?” stage of their lives. We have a son who stayed in that stage much longer than our other children, but he learned much in the process. The “Why?” is already answered for us here, though. It is with God’s mercy in view that we must realize how imperative it is that we give our entire lives to God as living offerings to him, holy and pleasing to God.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, not just so we could go to heaven one day when we die. He died so we would be free of slavery to sin while we are still on this earth, and so we would be united with Christ in death to sin and be made alive in Christ through faith in what Jesus did for us in dying for our sins. Our lives are no longer our own. We were bought with a price. Therefore, we should honor God with our whole beings!

This is our spiritual act of worship. I think sometimes we get the wrong idea of what worship is. We may be worshiping God when we are singing songs of praise to him in a worship service, but we may not. The kind of worship of God that he requires is the kind that willingly gives up a life of sin and lovingly and earnestly seeks to follow Jesus Christ wherever he leads us. This is true worship, and everything else flows from that.

Be transformed! A butterfly goes through a process called metamorphosis when it changes from a caterpillar into a butterfly. This process involves a complete change of substance from one thing to another. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ, i.e. for us to turn away from following the ways of this world, and our old patterns of sinful behavior - our caterpillars - and to allow the Holy Spirit of God to make us into new creatures - beautiful butterflies - in Christ Jesus.

If you have not yet made that decision to allow the Holy Spirit of God to make you into a new creature in Christ Jesus, I pray you will make that decision today.

Hello! My name is Sue Love. If you have any questions about anything I have shared with you today, you may reach me at www.originalworks.info. Thank you!

You Tube: http://youtu.be/IPd19xyVkgc

The Good Stuff

Thursday, December 06, 2012, 5:49 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me to the song “Not Be Silent” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Psalm 16 (NIV 1984):

Keep me safe, O God,

    for in you I take refuge.

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

    apart from you I have no good thing.”

As for the saints who are in the land,

    they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those will increase

    who run after other gods.

I will not pour out their libations of blood

    or take up their names on my lips.

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;

    you have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

    surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

    even at night my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me.

    Because he is at my right hand,

    I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

    my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the grave,

    nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life;

    you will fill me with joy in your presence,

    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Apart From You

The psalmist acknowledged his absolute dependence upon God for all things, as well as he testified to the goodness of God, and his recognition that apart from God, he had no good thing. So, what is good?

The spiritual fruitage (outgrowth) produced by a life committed to Jesus Christ is considered “good fruit,” the gospel of Jesus Christ is called the “Good News,” we are instructed to let our lights shine before men so that they can see our “good deeds” and praise God (give glory to God); “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him,” the spiritual seed of the word of God fell on “good soil” where it produced a spiritual harvest many times over what was sown, and “good seed” is also a reference to “the sons of the kingdom.” Also, Jesus said there is only One who is good, and that is God, also referring to himself as God. So, what can we take away from these few Biblical descriptions of the word “good”? If God is the only One who is good, then all other goodness must be rooted in God. He is the source of all that is truly good, so “good” is in reference to God or “of God.”

The Good Stuff

The psalmist then went on to describe some of the good things he had received from God:

The saints

The psalmist said that the saints in the land are the glorious ones in whom is all his delight. So, what is a saint? Some faiths may describe a saint as a man or a woman who excelled in good deeds during his or her lifetime and so after death he or she would be given the honor of sainthood, yet that is not what the Bible teaches about saints.

Beginning with the book of Acts in the New Testament, true followers of Jesus Christ were referred to as saints. They were the ones who had heard the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ, had responded to the call of God to holy living, by believing in Jesus Christ as Lord (master) and Savior (from sin) of their lives, who had turned from their lives of sin (repented), and who had turned to follow Jesus Christ in faith, obedience and surrender to his will for their lives (see Jn 9:23-25; Eph 4:17-24).

God has given us one another. He has given us brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ who love the Lord and who desire nothing more than to honor him and please him in all that they do, who have a passion for lost souls, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and who love others with Christ’s love. They are a blessing to our lives because they help encourage us in our walks with Jesus Christ, they lift us up when we have fallen, and they spur us on toward continuing, persevering and remaining steadfast in our faith. They are a blessing from God!

My portion and cup

The psalmist thanked God for assigning him his “portion and cup,” for giving him spiritual security and for a delightful inheritance. The New Testament uses the word “cup” in several different ways.

One reference described the cup as something that offered refreshment (a cup of cold water) for the physically thirsty disciple of Christ. In yet another reference, Jesus described the cup as symbolic of suffering and death for the sake of Christ and his gospel or of the cost of taking up one’s cross daily to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus asked God the Father, on the night Jesus was betrayed, if it were possible, that God would allow this “cup” to be taken from him, yet he prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” He was speaking, not only of the physical suffering and death he would have to endure for our sake, but of the sins of the entire world that would be placed upon him in his death, and for which he would die so that we could go free! This was indeed his “portion and cup” and it is ours to follow, as well, i.e. to follow him in suffering for his sake and in taking up our cross daily and following him.

Through following Jesus Christ into death to sin and resurrection to new (transformed) life in Jesus Christ we, too, have a delightful inheritance of eternity with God in glory! Although the psalmist may have been speaking in terms of physical land (the Promised Land), and so he was speaking of physical boundaries, perhaps, there are “boundary lines,” spiritually speaking for the true follower of Jesus Christ. True grace offers true freedom from sin. It does not give license to immorality or willful continuing in a sinful lifestyle. God sets boundaries for each one of us to follow, and they are for our own protection. When we stay within the boundary lines he has provided for us, there is much security, peace and joy! When we venture outside those boundary lines, we only know guilt and lack of inward peace or else we must sear our consciences to where we quench the Spirit of God in our lives.

The Counselor

The psalmist praised the Lord who counseled him. Even at night the Lord instructed him in his heart, and because of that good counsel, the psalmist set the Lord always before him, and his life was not shaken (disturbed; tossed about by the wind) because the Lord was his constant source of strength, power and wisdom for his daily life and decisions.

Right before Jesus Christ left this earth to go back to his Father in heaven, he comforted his disciples by telling them that if they loved him, they would obey what he commands, and he would ask the Father, and he would give them another (other than Jesus in the flesh) Counselor to be with them forever – the Spirit of truth. He told them that the Spirit presently lived with them, but he would be in them one day (see Acts 1:8). The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would teach them all things and would remind them of everything Jesus had said to them in person. He would guide them into all truth, and would only speak what he heard from the Lord Jesus and God the Father (see John 14-16).

When we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to invite him into our lives by faith, he indwells us with his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ, he is the one who transforms our hearts away from lives of sin and toward walking in obedience to Jesus Christ, and he is the one who inspires, counsels, directs, guides, and leads us into all righteousness and holy living. He convicts our hearts of sins and he nudges us when we are going the wrong direction, and he empowers us and strengthens us to do God’s will. He is the Spirit of God within us; the living water; the life of Christ, and we are his body (temple). The Holy of Holies now dwells with the hearts of true followers of Jesus Christ and we can come to the throne of grace to find mercy and help in our time of need 24/7. Amen!

No grave for me

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, not only does he deliver us from slavery to sin (day-to-day), but he also delivers us from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal damnation. He delivers us from spiritual death while we still live on the face of this earth, i.e. he gives us new lives in Jesus Christ full of meaning and purpose and direction, filled with his peace and joy and love, and commitment to obeying and serving him in obedience and surrender to his will for our lives, and overflowing with praise, thanksgiving and love for others. He delivers us from our empty lives, which were centered on ourselves and self-pleasure, and he focuses us toward himself and loving God and others. Christ’s followers may all die physical deaths, but we will live forever with God in eternity in our heavenly bodies. Amen!

Because of all this “good stuff” that God/Jesus has done for us, our hearts and tongues should be overflowing with praise and thanksgiving to God. We should tell others of his wondrous works on our behalf - how God loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins, and of how we can come to faith in Jesus Christ through death to sin and through being transformed in new birth to new lives in Christ Jesus via the working and power of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives as we now yield to his Lordship. We should sing of his praises, speak of his salvation, and not be silent!

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” ~ Matt. 5:14-16 (NIV 1984)

Not Be Silent / An Original Work / December 3, 2012

Based off Psalm 30

O Lord my God,

I’ll exalt You.

I called for help,

And You healed me.

O Lord my God,

You brought me from the grave.

You spared me from hell.

Sing to the Lord,

You saints of His;

Praise His holy name today.

Weeping may

Remain for a night;

Joy at break of day.

Our debt He did pay!

O Lord my God,

I said, “I will

Ne’er be shaken.”

Secure, I felt.

O Lord my God,

You forgave me.

Confident I stand in You.

When I could not see

Your face I was dismayed.

I called to You.

O Lord, You are my help.

You were merciful to me;

By Your grace set free!

O Lord my God,

I’m so thankful for

Salvation through my Jesus.

You turned wailing

Into dancing;

Clothed me with

Your joy today,

That my heart may sing

To You and not be silent.

Praise Your name.

O Lord my God,

I will give you

thanks forevermore.

My Lord, I adore!

http://originalworks.info/not-be-silent-2/

Not Be Silent

This psalm, updated to our relationship with Jesus Christ, God the Son, is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise for all that God has done for us in providing salvation for us from sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and through his resurrection. He delivered us from our ultimate destiny of hell, and emptiness, and slavery to sin, and he healed our hearts and souls and gave us new lives in Christ Jesus through our faith in him as our Lord (master) and Savior. He turned our weeping into joy!

When we were outside of faith in Jesus Christ and still in bondage to sin and selfishness, we could not see God, and we did not recognize our need of Christ. We were self-sufficient and felt secure where we were. Yet, Jesus Christ, by his love and mercy, forgave us, and we, by faith, now stand confident in Him. By his grace he set us free! Amen! And, because of all that he did for us and he continues to do on behalf of those who love him, we give him thanks and praise and honor and glory. We should be so filled up in our spirits with joy that we cannot hold it inside, but we must sing of his praises and share his gospel always.

 Not Be Silent / An Original Work / December 3, 2012

Based off Psalm 30

O Lord my God,

I’ll exalt You.

I called for help,

And You healed me.

O Lord my God,

You brought me from the grave.

You spared me from hell.

Sing to the Lord,

You saints of His;

Praise His holy name today.

Weeping may

Remain for a night;

Joy at break of day.

Our debt He did pay!

O Lord my God,

I said, “I will

Ne’er be shaken.”

Secure, I felt.

O Lord my God,

You forgave me.

Confident I stand in You.

When I could not see

Your face I was dismayed.

I called to You.

O Lord, You are my help.

You were merciful to me;

By Your grace set free!

O Lord my God,

I’m so thankful for

Salvation through my Jesus.

You turned wailing

Into dancing;

Clothed me with

Your joy today,

That my heart may sing

To You and not be silent.

Praise Your name.

O Lord my God,

I will give you

thanks forevermore.

My Lord, I adore!

MP3, Song Lyrics and Sheet Music w/chords (free):

http://originalworks.info/not-be-silent-2/

Video: http://youtu.be/Z5C9l2v2xFU

Seek the Lord

This is a repost of this song, now with live instrumentation and new video:

This passage from Isaiah 55 is an urgent call to come to or to return to the Lord and to be restored to a right relationship with God. The people, evidently, were complacent and settled in their worldliness and wickedness, like some of us may be today. So, God asks us why we waste our money and energies on what will never satisfy us. He counsels us to come to him, and to receive his living water welling up in us unto eternal life, i.e. the Spirit of God, or else to receive spiritual refreshment and renewal. The call is urgent, because we never know if we have tomorrow. We must turn from our sins, and turn to God via faith in Jesus Christ. God’s word will be fulfilled. He will pardon our sins when we turn from our wickedness, and we experience his grace and mercy. Then he will restore us and will bless us with great spiritual blessings. The return to God will be accompanied by much joy and peace, and will produce much spiritual fruitfulness to the glory of God.

Seek the Lord / An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy, and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

Song lyrics @ Public Domain

 

MP3, Song lyrics and sheet music w/chords (free):

http://originalworks.info/seek-the-lord/

Song on video:

http://youtu.be/WRwgjOzSs5M

Pagan Revelry

Tuesday, December 04, 2012, 8:09 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:

Blessed Are You / An Original Work / August 29, 2012

Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984

“Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are poor

For God’s kingdom is yours.

(Kingdom is yours)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are hungry,

You’ll be satisfied.

(Be satisfied)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you will laugh with joy.

(Will laugh with joy)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you when men hate

And reject you because of Christ.”

(Because of Christ)

…

The subject of the celebration of Christmas came up this morning before I read my passage of scripture for the day. I am reading in the Psalms, and today’s passage was Psalm 12. So, as I went into my time of reading this morning, I asked the Lord what my response should be to people who ask about the celebration of Christmas. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Then I read Psalm 12. When I got to verse 8, this is what stood out to me:

The wicked freely strut about

    when what is vile is honored among men.

The word “vile” stood out to me, and then the Lord immediately put this phrase in my mind, “pagan revelry.” I believe God sees, and has always seen in the history of mankind, “pagan revelry” as “vile.”

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” ~ 1 Co. 10:7

I wanted to understand what this all meant, and how it related to my inquiry about what my response should be to the subject of the celebration of Christmas, so I looked up some of these terms in the dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) . Vile means “loathsome, disgusting, objectionable, offensive, wicked, shameful or evil.” A pagan is a supporter (sticking or holding to) polytheistic (more than one god) religion, “especially when viewed in contrast to an adherent (supporter) of a monotheistic (only one god) religion.” And, revelry is “boisterous, noisy or unrestrained merrymaking; pleasure and good times, with connotations of carousing and self-indulgence.”

The Christmas Connection

So, what does this all have to do with the celebration of Christmas? Well, let’s look at what all the celebration of Christmas entails. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, what do you spend most of your time, thoughts and energies on in this celebration? What is Christmas to you? What is the main focus of Christmas in our society? And, what does the word of God have to say about celebrating Christ’s birth?

Christmas, in our society, is primarily about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, lights, decorations, Santa’s stockings, greed, commercialism, and presents, etc. So, who is Santa? He is an aberration. He is made up. Yet, he sees all, knows all and he can be all over the world at everyone’s homes all in one night. Who does this sound like? Yes, you are right: God Almighty. He is the only one who is all knowing, all powerful, and has the ability to be everywhere at all times. So, who is the great imitator of God who wanted to be God? Satan. He parades himself as an “angel of light” to deceive minds and hearts. Ever notice the similarity between the names “Santa” and “Satan”? Santa is of Satan and Satan’s goal is to be God in the hearts and minds of all people, but especially in the hearts and minds of professing followers of Jesus Christ. He wants nothing more than to steal the hearts and minds of naïve people, especially young children, away from God and to another god.

Is He the Reason?

Christmas is often marketed as the celebration of Christ’s birth, i.e. that “He is the reason for the season.” Is he really? Let’s look at that. How do we celebrate Jesus’ birth? Some people will tell you it is with the giving of presents to one another, just like the wise men gave gifts to Jesus or just like God gave us the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, for one, the wise men did not visit Jesus when he was born. He was probably a child of two years old when they visited him, and they were not coming to celebrate his birthday, per se, but to give honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords, the promised Messiah of the people of God. They were giving honor to the Savior of mankind, and they honored him with these costly gifts. Also, the giving of God’s Son is the giving of salvation to mankind (Jn 3:16).

So, when we give each other gifts, is this truly giving honor to God/Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords and as the Savior of mankind? If it is, in your thinking, then how do you believe this is accomplished? Do you think God is truly pleased with this gift giving of ours on this holiday? And, how is this similar in nature to what God did for us in giving us Jesus? If we want to respond in like manner, then instead of giving each other gifts, most of which we don’t really need, then we should be sharing the gospel of Jesus with the unsaved. That is why Jesus came! And, that is why he died on the cross. The greatest gift we can give, then, is the gift of God’s Son to those who have not yet believed in Jesus as Savior.

Should we celebrate Christ’s birth?

How did Jesus say we should remember him and honor him? He said we should honor him and remember him through the remembrance of his death, not his birth. And, the way in which we remember his death is through the taking of communion, not just the taking of it in the sense of taking a sacrament in a ritualistic sense, but as Paul described in 1 Co. 11:

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

There is a sense, thus, in which this participation in the Lord’s Supper is not merely the sharing in the drinking of the vine and the eating of the bread, but it is a participation in the meaning of these symbols in reality in how we live our lives. For Jesus, the juice of the vine and the bread represented his blood and body which were given for us on the cross of Christ for our sins, so that we could be set free from the penalty of sin (eternal damnation), and so we could be set free from slavery to sin (day-to-day). So, when we come to the Lord’s Table in remembrance of him, we are not merely recalling his death, but we are choosing to partake (drink and eat) with him in his death, which communion symbolizes, and in his resurrection, in death to our sins and in resurrection to new lives in Christ. This is why it is critical that we examine our hearts, not just in communion services, but all the time, to make sure that we have forsaken our lives of sin, and we are walking in obedience to Christ in all ways all the time. This is the kind of worship and honor of Jesus that he desires:

Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” ~ Luke 9:23-26

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~ Romans 12:1-2

Who gets Top Billing?

This (the above scriptures) is the kind of “gift giving” that God approves. It is not that he is against us giving each other gifts, I don’t believe, but I don’t believe the way we do gifts and the way we celebrate Christmas in our culture is what he desires, and in fact, I believe he sees it as “vile” and as “pagan revelry,” because it is a blend of the worship of Santa, greed, and a pagan holiday with the celebration of Jesus, only Jesus does not get top billing in this celebration. Think with me about that for a moment.

Look at your decorations for Christmas. Do you have a tree beautifully decorated with all kinds of trimmings? Are there lots of gifts underneath the tree? Who are these gifts for? What do they represent? Do you have Santa stockings hanging by your fireplace? Do you have images of Santa and his reindeer displayed in your house? And, where is Jesus in all of this? Do you buy a bunch of gifts you can’t afford for people who don’t really need them because tradition dictates that we should do this in celebration of Jesus? How does any of this give honor and praise to God/Jesus?

And, do you also have a manger scene displayed in your house along with Santa? Then, this is a celebration of a false god and the true God side-by-side, which is what God chided his children about all throughout history. And, how is Jesus pictured? He is pictured as a helpless baby in a lowly manger. Whose birthdays do we celebrate with images of what we looked like as babies? - Only Jesus’. I believe this is purposeful. Why?

Children, in particular, will see Jesus as a helpless baby who does what for them? And, they will see Santa as all powerful, all knowing, and can be all places at all times, and who brings them presents. What is wrong with this picture? Do you see the deception here? And, the two are celebrated together side-by-side. Even if you don’t do the Santa thing, you, perhaps, are still celebrating the birth of Jesus in a manner which has pagan roots, and which has nothing to do with Jesus Christ at all, and that minimizes who he truly is while on the same day an “all powerful, all knowing and omnipresent Santa” steals the hearts and minds of young children, because he brings them presents. How can you top that?

And, then we lie to our children and we tell them that Santa is real, even though they can’t really see him, so is that of God? And, we use terminology like “I believe in Santa.” And, then we tell our children to believe in Jesus, whom they also cannot see. Oh, what trickery Satan has concocted to get us to believe we are truly celebrating the life of Jesus when all we are doing is falling prey to a lie of Satan.

The Challenge

You don’t have to believe this, obviously, because I said it, but I pray that each person reading this today would prayerfully and honestly before God examine what has been shared here today in light of God’s word, and that you would inquire of God as to how he views our celebrations of Christmas. God gave us the gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on a cross for our sins. The best way we can celebrate the life of Jesus is to honor him with our lives, and to share the truth of his gospel with a world in need of the Savior. Will you pray and ask God if he is pleased with your celebration of him?

Sing Praises / An Original Work / November 30, 2012

Based off Psalms 6-9

Sing praises to the Lord!

Tell of His wond’rous works.

Afflicted, they cry out;

The Lord will not forget;

The needy, not desert.

The Lord’s our refuge now;

A stronghold when we fear.

The Lord will ne’er forsake

The ones, who Him pursue!

Sing praises to the Lord!

With all my heart I sing.

I will rejoice in Him;

Sing praises to His name;

Tell of His wond’rous works.

My shield is God Most High.

He saves those who believe

In Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

His grace has pardoned you!

The Lord accepts my prayer!

The Lord has heard my cries.

He is so merciful.

He heals my anguished soul.

The Lord has made me whole.

Give thanks unto the Lord.

Give praise unto His name.

Our Lord is righteousness.

Sing praises to the Lord!

Sing praises to the Lord!

Sing Praises: http://originalworks.info/sing-praises-2/

Blessed Are You: http://originalworks.info/blessed-are-you/

Note: All scripture references are taken from the NIV 1984.

Darts of Fear

Monday, December 03, 2012, 5:33 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me this morning with this song, “Sing Praises.” Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Psalm 11 (NIV 1984):

In the Lord I take refuge.

    How then can you say to me:

    “Flee like a bird to your mountain.

For look, the wicked bend their bows;

    they set their arrows against the strings

to shoot from the shadows

    at the upright in heart.

When the foundations are being destroyed,

    what can the righteous do?”

The Lord is in his holy temple;

    the Lord is on his heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men;

    his eyes examine them.

The Lord examines the righteous,

    but the wicked and those who love violence

    his soul hates.

On the wicked he will rain

    fiery coals and burning sulfur;

    a scorching wind will be their lot.

For the Lord is righteous,

    he loves justice;

    upright men will see his face.

Flee or Pursue?

Have you ever noticed that the more you follow Jesus Christ in obedience, the more resistance you get? The Bible describes Satan as a roaring lion roaming around looking for someone to devour. And, the ones he wants to devour most are those who are loving, serving, and who are obeying Jesus Christ with their lives; and who are being his witnesses for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The devil has all kinds of evil schemes in his bag of tricks that he likes to use against us. He knows our weak spots, and those are the areas where he will most likely focus the point of his flaming arrows, too. Sometimes he attacks our emotions, our thoughts, and/or our attitudes directly, and other times he uses human instruments to fling or to hurl his arrows and darts against us. I believe some of the greatest weapons he likes to wield against us are darts and arrows of doubt and/or fear.

So, when Satan bends the bow and sets his arrows against the strings of the bow to shoot his arrows at us, whether or not he uses human instruments as his arrows, we have a choice to make. We can either flee like a bird (escape; run away), or we can stand firm in our faith, resist Satan, cast our anxiety on God, and put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes (see Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Pet. 5:7-9).

Satan is a BIG FAT LIAR! He loves to put all kinds of doubts and fears into our minds because his ultimate goal is to get us to doubt God and to fear our circumstances, which also doubts God, because fear is the opposite of faith.

A Personal Example

As a child, I faced a great deal of abuse in my home. I grew up in the church, so I learned about God and his love from infancy. I invited Jesus Christ into my life to be my Lord and Savior when I was a young child, and I made it my goal to live for the Lord. Yet, I had an abusive human father. I knew God loved me, and I drew on his love all the time, yet somehow I had gained this picture of God (subconsciously) as limited in his ability to have control over my circumstances. I saw people and circumstances frequently as overwhelmingly against me, and many of them were, in reality, yet I had this helpless feeling of an abused child, unable to fight off my abuser. My response to the “arrows” of Satan, often coming through human beings, was to call on God, and was to rely on him for strength to make it through, but most always with a feeling that somehow these “darts” were greater than God. I even one time said to God, “But God, you don’t understand!” How foolish I was then!

Anyway, I carried this false concept of God into adulthood, not realizing that is what I was doing. Because I saw God as limited in power over my circumstances, my circumstances frequently would get the best of me, and I would give way to them, i.e. I would flee like a bird, because I thought the circumstances were too powerful for me. I often fought off temptation like an abused child would fight off an abuser with my arms crossed in front of my face, hoping to not get hit again, yet realizing the inevitable was probably going to take place. I had a victim mentality instead of a victor mentality. And, it was because I truly did not grasp the sovereignty of God in my life and his absolute power over all circumstances in my life, and because I had a skewed concept of what the cross of Jesus Christ really did for me, that I frequently gave way to doubt and to fear.

Then, one day it all made sense to me. God opened my eyes, and I realized I had believed a lie of Satan. God was absolutely in control (and still is) of every circumstance in my life. Before I was even formed in the womb of my mother God had a plan and a purpose for my life. He placed me in that home for a reason, and he was in complete control, even though I felt as though my world was very much out of control at the time. He was and still is quite capable of handling any darts or arrows Satan might throw my way, and he will give me all I need (his armor) with which to fight off those flaming arrows of Satan. Jesus Christ conquered Satan, hell, death and sin on the cross, so I have no reason to ever fear any of these or to give way to any of these, because Jesus already won the battle for me. Amen! I can confidently resist Satan and stand firm in my faith because of what Jesus did for me.

I Take Refuge

Taking refuge in the Lord is much more than just leaning on his everlasting arms for comfort and encouragement during hard times. And, this is what I learned the hard way. Taking refuge in the Lord also entails understanding intellectually, emotionally and with our whole hearts the reality of God’s power over all our circumstances, and that all the days ordained for us were written in his book before one of them came into being (see Ps. 139). Nothing escapes God’s notice. He is not missing in action when things go awry. He was there all the time. No one or no dart of Satan is too powerful for God. If we are the Lord’s, he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. He is not weak! If he allows us to go through difficulties, he has a purpose in them for our lives to teach us perseverance, to strengthen us in character, mind, spirit and will, and to mature us and to mold us into his image.

I believe with all my heart that I was placed in the home of my parents so that God could make me into the person I am today, and so he could use me in the way he is now engaging me in ministry. If I had not gone through many of the difficulties I have faced in my life-time, I believe I would not be prepared to do what I am now doing. Through difficulties he taught me perseverance; stamina, stick-to-it-ness, and he gave me a sense of the awesomeness of God’s hand upon my life “for such a time as this.” No matter what resistance I may face in the line of duty in service to my Lord, I must keep on keeping on by standing on the faith God has given me, and by resting in all his promises. I must daily put on the armor of God, so that I can fight off the devil’s schemes, I must resist Satan and his tricks to get me to give way to fear, and I must confidently remain assured of God’s absolute sovereignty over my life and circumstances, and of his divine purposes for my life.

In All Practicality

One practical thing I do, which I believe helps a great deal, is that I journal what the Lord Jesus teaches me each day through his word. I also post on the internet the lessons I learn through his word, in obedience to my Lord, and in the hope that he may use what he teaches me to encourage the hearts of others of his followers. The posting on the internet aside, though, many times when Satan is hurling his darts at me and I am tempted to doubt or to give way to fear, I can go back to what I have written and I can read what the Lord taught me, and how he answered my prayers or my inquiries of him, and I can use the Lord’s words as part of my spiritual armor against Satan’s attacks against my mind. I am not speaking of doubting my salvation or anything that basic here, but I am speaking of Satan’s darts that he likes to throw against me (and you) in my (your) daily spiritual walk with my (your) Lord and in obedience to him and to his service. Satan wants nothing more than to get God’s children to stop doing what God has called and equipped them to do.

One other huge thing the Lord is still teaching me is to give him praise no matter what I am going through. I think sometimes we get bogged down with our circumstances and we get so focused on what we are going through that, again, we lose sight of God and the fact that he is very much on his throne in his holy temple, and that he not only knows what is going on, but he has allowed it for a purpose, so we need to praise him and thank him for allowing us to go through difficulties so that he can make us into the people of God he wants us to be. Even if we can’t thank him for the difficulties, we can praise him in the storms of our lives. Also, when we respond to our circumstances with praise and thanksgiving, it completely alters our attitudes for the good.

So, I choose to sing praises to God even when I don’t feel like it or even when my circumstances don’t particularly warrant praise, in the natural, and I choose to trust my Lord and his sovereignty over all things in my life and to not give way to fear. Amen!

Sing Praises / An Original Work / November 30, 2012

Based off Psalms 6-9

Sing praises to the Lord!

Tell of His wond’rous works.

Afflicted, they cry out;

The Lord will not forget;

The needy, not desert.

The Lord’s our refuge now;

A stronghold when we fear.

The Lord will ne’er forsake

The ones, who Him pursue!

Sing praises to the Lord!

With all my heart I sing.

I will rejoice in Him;

Sing praises to His name;

Tell of His wond’rous works.

My shield is God Most High.

He saves those who believe

In Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

His grace has pardoned you!

The Lord accepts my prayer!

The Lord has heard my cries.

He is so merciful.

He heals my anguished soul.

The Lord has made me whole.

Give thanks unto the Lord.

Give praise unto His name.

Our Lord is righteousness.

Sing praises to the Lord!

Sing praises to the Lord!

MP3, Song Lyrics and Sheet Music w/chords (free):

http://originalworks.info/sing-praises-2/

Video: http://youtu.be/O44mco9f3YU

In Times of Trouble

Sunday, December 2, 2012, 5:42 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me this morning with the song “Sing Praises” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Psalm 10 (NIV 1984):

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,

    who are caught in the schemes he devises.

He boasts of the cravings of his heart;

    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord...

He says to himself, “God has forgotten;

    he covers his face and never sees.”

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.

    Do not forget the helpless.

Why does the wicked man revile God?

    Why does he say to himself,

    “He won’t call me to account”?

But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;

    you consider it to take it in hand.

The victim commits himself to you;

    you are the helper of the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;

    call him to account for his wickedness

    that would not be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever;

    the nations will perish from his land.

You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted;

    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

defending the fatherless and the oppressed,

    in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Why, O Lord?

The Psalmist asked why the Lord stood far off, and why he hid himself in times of trouble. The Psalmist had observed how the wicked appeared to prevail over the weak. The wicked were boastful, proud, arrogant, self-assured, haughty, and they took advantage of those who were weaker than them. The wicked also had no room for God in their hearts. God’s commands were far from them. They mocked God and did not take God seriously. They thought to themselves, “Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.” The wicked think, because God is slow to anger and abounding in love and mercy, that he has forgotten and does not see what they are doing, but he does. They think God will not call them to account for their actions, but he will on the day when he judges.

I think many of us have asked God the same questions. And, maybe that is where you are right now. Why does it seem, at times, that God doesn’t seem to be paying attention? Why does he allow wicked men to go on deceiving, murdering, raping and otherwise taking advantage of those who are weaker or who are less fortunate than them? He is God! He is all powerful. He could stop them. So, why doesn’t he? These are age-old questions.

Why does he allow us to hurt, to suffer, to be persecuted, abandoned, forsaken, hated, and mistreated by others? Why does he allow us to go through times of trials and tribulations? Why does it seem, sometimes, that he is so far away? Why doesn’t he rescue us? Why doesn’t justice always prevail? Why does it seem, sometimes, as though the righteous have trouble after trouble while the wicked prosper and nothing bad seems to happen to them? Have you ever asked any of these questions? Or, is this where you are right now?

The Wicked

So, why does God allow the wicked to prosper and to continue doing evil? I don’t have all the answers to that question, but what I do know is that God is absolutely sovereign over all things, he is God, he is in control of all that he created, and I trust him that he knows what he is doing and that it will all work out for his glory and for the salvation of human lives.

I also know that we are all born into sin, and we have all sinned, but God, by his grace, had compassion on us, and he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Although he was perfect and had done no wrong, he was crucified on a cross, as though he was a common criminal. When he died, he took upon himself the sins of the entire world, and when he died our sins died and were buried with him. When he arose from the grave, he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin so that, by faith, we could be free of slavery to sin (day-to-day), and so we could be free of the penalty of sin (eternal damnation).

Jesus Christ died for the sins of the entire world! And, it is God’s will that all men should come to faith in Jesus Christ. If he were to remove all the evil in the world, he would have to remove all of us, because not one of us is righteous in his own merit. We have all sinned. Yet, the Lord is very gracious, and he is very patient with us, because he doesn’t want any of us to perish without Christ, but for us to all come to him in faith through repentance.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. ~ Ps. 103:8

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~ 2 Pet. 3:9

The Righteous

We are made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ in cleansing us and in forgiving us from all sin. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s sight. The only way we can become righteous is by faith in Jesus Christ via repentance (turning from sin) and turning to God in obedience to his commands and in surrender to his will for our lives (see Eph. 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-24). Christ’s righteousness is, thus, credited to our account when we turn to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is how we are made righteous.

The righteous, who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, should be troubled and grieved in our spirits over the evil and wickedness in the world, and we should have pity on the weak and afflicted, as did the Psalmist. Yet we should pray for the salvation of the wicked, we should love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, do good to those who hate us, and say kind things about those who mistreat us. Yet, sometimes the most merciful thing God can do for people is to discipline, to chastise, correct and rebuke, because with correction comes the potential of lives moved away from lifestyles of sin and rebellion against God, and moved to obey God in all our ways. So, God may answer our prayers, sometimes, with acts of judgment for the purposes of purifying a people for himself.

We should take this attitude toward our own suffering, persecutions, troubles, and grief, etc. We should realize that God has not abandoned us in our suffering, he will never leave us or forsake us, he is in complete control of our circumstances, he knows what he is doing, none of this has taken him by surprise, and he has a plan and a purpose for it all. He has not hidden himself from us, he has not fallen asleep, he has not forgotten about us, he hears our cries for mercy, he hears the desires of the afflicted, and he is here to offer us encouragement, hope, counsel, direction, purpose, and to fill us with his peace and joy. He will give us all we need, he will help us, and he will rescue us from all our troubles. He may not rescue us physically from trouble and hardship until he takes us home to be with him, but he will rescue us emotionally and spiritually from the weight and burden of our suffering, and he will lift us up and will fill our hearts with desire for him.

So, when we are going through difficult times, and even at the hands of those we consider to be evil and wicked, we must remember what the scriptures teach us with regard to suffering, persecutions and hardships. They are for our good, to test our faith, to develop within us godly character and perseverance, and to grow us to maturity in Christ Jesus. Our response to these times of hardship, tribulations and persecutions should be that we should rejoice, we should praise God, and we should leap for joy because we are being treated the same way the prophets of old were treated, and the same way Jesus Christ was treated. And, we should have joy in our hearts and thanksgiving for the good that God will produce in our lives as we learn obedience through what we suffer.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ~ 1 Pet. 1:6

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~ Jms. 1:2-4

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ~ 2 Timothy 3:12-13

“Blessed are you when men hate you,

    when they exclude you and insult you

    and reject your name as evil,

        because of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.” ~ Luke 6:22-23

Sing Praises / An Original Work / November 30, 2012

Based off Psalms 6-9

Sing praises to the Lord!

Tell of His wond’rous works.

Afflicted, they cry out;

The Lord will not forget;

The needy, not desert.

The Lord’s our refuge now;

A stronghold when we fear.

The Lord will ne’er forsake

The ones, who Him pursue!

Sing praises to the Lord!

With all my heart I sing.

I will rejoice in Him;

Sing praises to His name;

Tell of His wond’rous works.

My shield is God Most High.

He saves those who believe

In Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

His grace has pardoned you!

The Lord accepts my prayer!

The Lord has heard my cries.

He is so merciful.

He heals my anguished soul.

The Lord has made me whole.

Give thanks unto the Lord.

Give praise unto His name.

Our Lord is righteousness.

Sing praises to the Lord!

Sing praises to the Lord!

http://originalworks.info/sing-praises-2/

Video: http://youtu.be/O44mco9f3YU