Month: February 2017

In the invisible world surrounding us the demons of sin, death, and the devil will prowl around like a pack of dogs seeking to attack the soul and bring us down, actually to devour and destroy the joy of life in God. When we experience trouble and distress we can recognize the event as an enemy attack from the Spiritual Foe.

It is good, right and salutary to turn to my Strength, Refuge and Defense in the day of trouble. It is fitting and proper and necessary to ask the Lord in his mercy and lovingkindness to rise up and attack the attackers, to send them reeling back to hell, to silence their lying mouths, and consume them in wrath.

The mercies of God and the Blood of Jesus Christ is a sure Defense and a dependable Offense. An imprecatory prayer is useful and powerful when directed against spiritual enemies (not physical persons). God will hear those prayers and deliver us from Evil. Sin is more destructive than we are able to imagine, but the Love of God is even far more destructive than we can ever ask or imagine. Use it; pray it; believe it.

Power corrupts. Any sinful human placed in a position of influence in which his decisions affect the lives of others, for good or ill, is liable to corrupt and abuse that power. This evil condition exists in every human society or grouping of people of any size; and it is exacerbated by evil demonic powers that seek to control those persons placed in authority. This sinful and demonic condition results in rampant injustice on earth.

The only hope for peaceful and pleasant living is to pray to the only Just Judge to set things right; but when we do pray for justice terrible things may happen to terrible “judges” (anyone with any power over anybody). When The Judge judges the invisible powers, the lions and snakes, the visible misusers of power may also suffer under these judgments.

Imprecatory prayers against unjust spiritual enemies must be prayed, but be prepared to repent since selfish inclinations rule in each sinner as well and they will be judged. In fact, gossip, complaints, criticisms and judgments of others (prayers, really) should not be thought or spoken until severe self examination is rigorously applied. Then judge the sin and forgive the sinner (including yourself).

The Glorious God sends His Love and Truth from heaven to save and protect us from the enemies among which we live on earth. In other words, “God sent His Son…”

Earth is the living space for human beings where their souls live among lions and lie with ferocious enemies determined to devour. Heaven is the living space for God where Satan has been cast out and where Sin, Death and Devil do not exist. Humans yearn to live in such a place but cannot enter because of Sin. Therefore the only hope is that God and heaven would come to earth, forgive sin, rescue from enemies, and bring earth dwellers to the Safe Place under His Wings. This the Son and the Spirit have done.

My prayer is that the Lord will do the same for me every day and in every circumstance. I pray that the presence of God (heaven) will come into my living space and actualize His will and authority where I live: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Lord, you did it all for me at the Cross and Tomb; now do it all for me in my present need: Send Mercy!

“In God I trust.” When I trust in God I will not be afraid of weak and mortal man. I have a promise from the Lord Himself: why should I worry about what other human beings think of me, or what they say about me, or what they try to do to me?

The Enemy uses people of the world, or the fear of people, to bring me down. People are not God; my Lord is. I care about what He thinks of me: he loves me and enjoys me. I care about what He says about me: he says I am special and promises wonderful blessings. I care about what He does to me: he protects and provides and pleases.

My Lord Jesus Christ knows all about me and what happens to me is important to him. He puts my tears in a skin bottle and keeps a record. He gives me a word, a promise, that I can trust. Therefore I will not fear. My Enemy may activate mortal flesh to frighten, worry, and upset me, but what have I to fear? I have the Invisible, Eternal, all Wise, all Powerful God fighting for me on my side.

Demonic oppression, threats of danger, personal betrayals, and the presence of evil engulf and overwhelm from time to time. Escape to the wilderness from the terrors of the city tempts the oppressed sufferer, but the wilderness is no place to be safe either. Running away from the threats, betrayals, temptations, dangers, and terrors of spiritual enemies is not a feasible solution for troubles, until we reach the Heavenly City.

Sin, death and the devil are ever present, but so is the Safe Place in God. So stay where you are, call upon the Lord and He will save you where you are; He will deliver your life in peace from the battle and prepare a table of well being in the presence of the enemies’ terrors. No matter how frightening city or country life appears He is there for His own.

“Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.” Come to Me when overwhelmed and scared, for I am here and I care. Give me your fears; I can handle them. I will cast the enemies into the pit, and you can trust in me. So says Jesus, who is the Answer.

Sin, Death and the Devil are the enemies that seek my life to diminish it, or kill, any way they can. The enemies are strangers to God and God’s life in me; they are insolent and arrogant in thinking they can frighten and threaten; they are ruthless in that they never give up and keep coming back.

But in the time of need or enemy attack I can pray for the Lord’s Help and call on His Name and He delivers. The Name of the Lord is His Presence; it is the nature and character of God showing up at the time and place I need Him. In the Presence of Jesus the enemy has no power, his lies and terrors have no effect, his temptations are driven away, his own evil threats come back upon him, and I will see him utterly defeated.

Since the devil is constantly lurking in the shadows of the world and our own flesh, since sin is always crouching at the door, and because death is ever waiting nearby, we are in daily need of the strong and good Name of Jesus, the very Presence of the living God. “Hallowed be Thy Name…deliver us from evil.”

The World and the Church are two separate and opposed camps occupying the same space and time. One says,”There is no God; the other, “There is a God.” All humans were born in the World, which lies in the Evil One, until rescued and brought into the Church, which lies in the Holy One. One is ruled by an Enemy, the other by a Friend.

The deceived Fool ignores God and does not pay attention because he thinks God does not pay attention, or intervene, or care; therefore he is corrupt and abominable. The rescued Wise person, now in His camp, seeks God and pays attention because he knows his God does pay attention and He does intervene and He does care; therefore he repents, believes and prays.

The World encamps around and besieges the Church, which believes and prays for salvation. Their Lord intervenes and scatters the bones of the foolish world that remains in ignorance (not meaning stupid but actually “ignoring” God). God intervenes in human history: Salvation has come out of Zion in the person of the Overcomer and He has restored us. We are glad and rejoice. And further: This happens daily and richly.

“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” The Enemy of the faithful believer sometimes makes his appearance in the form of a specific treacherous and deceitful human being. This individual may be used by Satan to bring about destruction of life because he lives in the world, trusts in the world, and listens to the ways of the world.

Pride always goes before a fall. The end of worldly people whom the Evil One uses will be destruction and judgment. So Jesus says, “Don’t worry about it. I am living in you, my faithful people, and I am greater than those trusting in worldly wealth and worldly ways.” Instead of trusting in the Lord worldly people seek refuge in their own destruction; amazing but true.

But I, on the other hand, trust in the never-ending faithful love of Christ in me, and so I flourish like a green olive tree in His Presence. I thank God regularly and I wait for His Name, for He is good and His mercy endures. I live by what I believe, not by what I see; my Lord always shows up and overcomes.

Truthful repentance changes lives because it receives God’s mercy; it does not cause it. The penitent knows that God forgives only because of Christ, not because of the sincerity of my sorrow for sin, the depth of my faith, the humility of my begging, or the faithfulness of my promise to do better. Repentance and faith receives the gift of grace and forgiveness of Sin, the enemy that always brings egregious consequences.

This penitential Psalm is a model of the kind of repentant heart that the Lord must grant by His mercy, because the human self refuses to acknowledge the truth and depth of sin, and human flesh cannot manufacture sincere repentance. A broken and contrite heart is required, but it is the Spirit of God that must do the breaking and “contriting.” He breaks the soul into nothing so that God will create something.

When the Spirit creates daily repentance and faith He also restores Joy and full Life; He creates a new and right spirit within. This new Spirit abhors sin and delights in God’s will; it wants to get on the narrow path; it makes choices that bless; it enjoys life. Daily repentance is an amazing gift for which one can be eternally thankful.

At sunrise God calls his people to come into His Presence to renew their covenant relationship with the God of Love and Salvation. Sunrise is a reminder of the Lord’s coming into our lives to make a promise, whether at Sinai (for OT believers) or Golgotha and Garden (for NT believers).

He set up an elaborate sacrificial system, and now he says he doesn’t need your sacrifices. You need it, and God wants you, in a loving relationship with him. Since Jesus’ once for all sacrifice for your life, your sacrifices are no longer needed. Ah, but you do need to make daily sacrifices, because you forget. How do we sacrifice today? Remember your Baptism by repentance and thanksgiving and renewing a relationship of pure Grace. Sacrifice is dying to self, surrendering self-will, giving up control, being willing to let go, laying down life for the sake of others; in other words, repent and believe the Gospel. Then Thanksgiving erupts from a life full of joy, and “call on Him in the day of trouble.”

Coming into the Presence also involves a warning and a judgment against hypocrisy and ritual and disregarding the relational consequences of the Ten Commandments; these are defeated enemies. We Worship in Spirit and Truth.