Month: May 2017

Pride is one of the most difficult enemies to overcome out of all the enemies that arise from the sinful self. It is sometimes called the first sin, and often it is referred to as the primal cause of Satan’s rebellion. Selfish ambition comes naturally to every soul; everyone craves recognition, attention, honor, importance, power and control; each of us loathes humiliation, disgrace, dependence, insignificance and and weakness.

However, our loving Father is relentless in his pursuit of humble trust. He never stops allowing humbling experiences to come into our lives in order to root out pride and instill quiet dependence and calm trust in our inner being. His goal for His children is to see them resting peacefully and contentedly in His arms “like a weaned child.” Jesus sees the same picture.

This battle between pride and humility, between flesh and spirit, between God and Self will never end until complete submission is attained; when that goal is reached we experience humble trust, quiet confidence and peaceful rest. And although we sometimes experience the peace of complete submission, we can never reach the final goal until we go through death and resurrection. Meantime, we “die daily.”

 

 

 

 

Out of the depths One cries for mercy and the crier hopes in God’s Word of promise because he knows the essential character of God: with the Lord there is forgiveness, mercy, and redemption, because that’s who God is and that’s what God likes to give. Therefore, one can hope in God in the dark and dangerous night just as surely as he knows the sun will come up in the morning.

“Depths” means coming close to death which means sensing separation from God, which is caused by Sin. The despairer turns to God and away from sin for he desperately needs to be “with Him.” Forgiveness, mercy and redemption turns away Sin and Death. The NT believer finds God at the Cross.

The experience of knowing I am with that kind of God  causes me to know that He may be feared, meaning I now strongly desire to obey Him. Shakespeare was wrong when he wrote,”Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.” Truth is the opposite: substitute “obedience” for “sin” in that quote. In fact, mercy is the only means to produce change for the better; the Gospel is the only power to effect proper Fear of God.

Our Lord has freed us from the slavery of our enemies in the past; He free us from present crises and He will crush our enemies in the future. Many times they have afflicted me, beating my back with whips, but they have not prevailed. I have suffered many afflictions at the hands of sin, death and devil, but my righteous Lord has cut their whips and scourges and ropes when He died for me and set me free.

This same God who defeated my enemies and rescued me before will do so again. They will be confounded and turned back that hate God and His Presence and His people who trust in His Presence.

We will continue to be afflicted, but we have a future under the promised blessing of the Lord; our enemies have no future for they wither and die without a harvest. We, however, will grow and flourish and we will be harvested and brought into the Eternal Blessedness of the Kingdom.

The Lord Jesus Christ is The Overcomer, and He is our Hope for years to come. By faith we are in Him, in Zion, in His Presence, in the safe place.

 

 

 

Promises of fertility and fruitfulness, peace and prosperity are fulfilled as consequences that come to those who fear God and obey His covenant commands. Obedience to the Moral Code has a blessed result. This conditional promise is repeated hundreds of times.

Three blessing are promised for the one who fears God: just reward for your labor; happy home and family life; continued blessings on descendants. These family blessings come within the context of peace in the land contingent on the presence of God (Zion). There is also the presumption that the Lord keeps away the enemies that would steal and destroy.

The direct correspondence of cause (obedience) and effect (blessing) is not usually evident to the physical eye, but the eyes of faith can see more clearly. Nevertheless, this truth is revealed to us as incentive to remain faithful to God.

Now we have another problem: none of us is good nor can any claim obedience to the Law; thus none can claim a right to the promise. Then for us the Gospel promises this: Jesus was obedient for you and died for the disobedient. By daily repentance and faith in the Gospel I enter the kingdom of righteousness and peace and I enjoy the fruit.

 

 

 

 

The Lord God is involved, and wants to be involved, in all the everyday affairs of human life. He is interested in the things we do and the decisions we make. Having the Lord nearby with us for conversation, interaction and guidance makes life more fun, more interesting, and more fulfilling.

The advice is clear: involve the Lord in your daily life and decision-making. This advice is more easily acknowledged than it is implemented. We know that if something is of God it will succeed and blessings will follow; if it is of us alone without God’s involvement it will fail. “Unless the Lord build….Unless the Lord keep…” it will all be in vain, empty, useless. Pride and Unbelief fight hard to prevent us from living like this. Pride wants to take credit. Unbelief doesn’t think God cares.

Pride and Unbelief are enemies of life and continually keep God out of the picture; when God is ignored the joy of life is gone as well. When pride and unbelief are ignored by the Gospel the Lord is free to build and keep watch over: the temple in our body, the family in our life, and the city where we dwell. God is there.

 

 

 

 

 

“Turn again our captivity,” or, “Restore our fortunes,” are two ways of translating the same thing. We have lost a former state of freedom and we lost a former state of prosperity. Such a state of freedom and prosperity had never really been achieved in the history of God ‘s people. But the Exodus deliverance and the return from exile are the two great salvation events prior to Christ.

However, neither Salvation Event was really a return to a former glory nor a full restoration to a former peace and prosperity. Therefore, we pray for a full restoration to a dream and a paradaisical fantasy that we inwardly know we were created for but have never actually experienced. This prayer has been answered in the Christ Event. We have been taken out from captivity to the Enemy (who even admits: “The Lord has done great things for them”); and we have been taken to the dreamlike Paradise we could only imagine (and it turns out to be more than we could ask or imagine).

In deed and in truth, we have been fully restored to Life as it was meant to be. Jesus restores what Sin sreals.

 

 

 

 

In spite of outward appearances and inward feelings the promises of God are sure and certain and His faithfulness abides forever. Those who trust in the Lord will never be moved; they will rest secure because it is the Lord who surrounds them.

When it seems like evil is in control the temptation for God’s people is to compromise, “go along to get along,” and turn aside from the way. Don’t do it. Peace and security will not be found in the way of the world and of the majority. Only the Lord and His Word abides forever and He will have the last word.

Trust the Lord and remain faithful. Believe that the dominance of the enemy is temporary and only a false appearance. “This, too, shall pass.” The lot, the land, that God Promised is the spiritual and eternal kingdom that Sin, Satan and Death cannot touch. Remain in that promise and you cannot be moved.

Abide in Christ, walk by faith, and know that He and His Promised Land is the safe and secure, peaceful and protected place to be. Enter the Kingdom and stay there; enjoy the peace.

 

 

 

 

 

If God had been on our side we would not exist, either as people or as a people. If the Lord did not save us from enemies we would be dead, physically and spiritually. The three spiritual enemies want our bodies dead, separated from the soul and from God.

But God gave us a Savior who rescued us from Sin, Death and Devil. He saved us from 4 metaphors: 1) from a monster that would have swallowed us up, but death is swallowed up in victory; 2) from raging waters that would overwhelm us, but the storm is stilled; 3) from beasts tearing us with teeth, but Satan is crushed; 4) from the trap of the bird hunter, but the snare is broken we are escaped from the penalty of sin.

We would not be alive eternally and enjoying God’s life if the Lord had not been our Savior and Protector. We would not continue to live eternally today and tomorrow if the Lord should ever stop being our Savior and Protector. But our Lord Jesus does not stop: He forgives sin daily and richly, delivers constantly from death and the devil, continually gives eternal life, gives daily bread, protects and defends from evil, hears prayers, lives in the heart and is with us always.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up to the God in Heaven who is Lord and Master over my life and all things is the proper attitude of prayer. The one who prays is in the attitude of dependency and helplessness. The physical posture may or may not reflect that, but the spirit holds the posture of dependence and trust, relying solely on the mercy of the Master.

The image of the one in need is like a dog or a servant looking to the hand of the kindly master. “I am helpless, but I know my master can extend his hand to help, or to punish; I am at your mercy.” I could take matters into my own hands, but I am weak and powerless and would probably just mess it up and make it worse.

My enemies (sin, death and devil) hold me in contempt and will show no mercy whatever. Their goal is my utter destruction and they will not stop until that is accomplished. The sooner I realize this and turn in trust to the mercy of my kind Master the better off I will be. So I wait upon the Lord until He has mercy on me. My entire life depends on mercy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the invisible God and where can I find Him on the visible earth where I live? The Bible reveals this crucial answer: He is in the Holy of Holies in the Temple on Mt. Zion in the city of Jerusalem. This is the  Presence of God, the place where the Lord dwells on the physical earth. Everyone knows that he may come to this city that houses the Presence to find God.

Then the Presence was transferred to and settled in a human being, Jesus of Nazareth: the Kingdom of God has come. Then, the Presence was moved to and located in the human hearts of those who believe and are baptized. When those individual believers gather in a place in the name of Jesus to hear the Gospel and worship Him that “Place” becomes a “Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem is a physical, visible geographical location on earth that houses the Presence. Any ground so hallowed, where the King rules His kingdom within, is a Jerusalem; this city can be set up anywhere and should be set up everywhere, at least in every home.

Pray for the peace and prosperity of that Jerusalem to which you journey. Pray thus: “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.”