Psalm 43 Rescue Me, My God

    

Vindicate me, my God,

    and plead my cause

    against an unfaithful nation.

Rescue me from those who are

    deceitful and wicked.

2 

You are God my stronghold.

    Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about mourning,

    oppressed by the enemy?

3 

Send me your light and your faithful care,

    let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain,

    to the place where you dwell.

4 

Then I will go to the altar of God,

    to God, my joy and my delight.

I will praise you with the lyre,

    O God, my God.

5 

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

    Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

    for I will yet praise him,

    my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43

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Did you watch what is going on in Paris in the opening ceremony?

What do you think of all of that?

And I ask you, what did any of it have to do with the Olympics?

The whole thing to me is what David prayed here about an unfaithful nation. Asking God to rescue him from those that are deceitful and wicked.

Oh God, do we need your light and care so that we might dwell on Your holy mountain.

Friends, I long for that day.

Do you?

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

God bless!

Psalm 25 Bless Israel Lord!

Psalm 25

Of David.

1 

25 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.

8 Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

12 What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.

18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

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Good morning, Friends. While we pray this pray along with David this morning, meditating on his message to our God, please note verse 25. David asked God to redeem Israel out of his troubles. That is so fitting for today as Israel battles against its enemies. 

In Genesis 12:3, God says He will bless those that bless Israel. And what else does He reveal in that verse? He will curse those that curse them. Are you asking God's blessing on Israel? If not, you should be. For we know that God's enemies will not last forever when it comes to His people. He will curse them.

And that goes for us as well. 

As we, His children remain in Him.

As we love Him and obey His will.

We will be blessed.

Otherwise, we will be cursed.

Thanks for coming today, Friends.

May your day be blessed of our Father,

that loves you!

 

Psalms 13

 13 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

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Have you ever asked God the question that David did in this passage? I know that I have. My prayers were more like, "How long will I suffer, Lord?" or "When will you answer me, Lord?" Or most recently, "How long before you come back to take us from this wicked world, Lord?"

But do you know what? There are many times, when my prayers seem to land in the deaf ears of God. 

But God's ears are not deaf. 

He hears the cries of those of us that love Him.

And like His people of old, that kept messing up, one day He will deliver you and I from this life and we will arrive at the land that is greater than the one that flowed with milk and honey in OT days. We will arrive at heaven's gate, (like so many before us) and enter into and forever dwell in His house, where He is preparing a room for us, right now. 

And until then?

We will trust in His mercy.

Rejoice in our salvation.

And sing to our Lord. 

Have a wonderful, blessed day, my Friends. 

Remember....

God is good all the time,

and all the time,

God is good!!!

2 Samuel 7:18-29

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human![a]

20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.

22 “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?[b] 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.

25 “And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight.

27 “Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”

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Indeed. Who are we that God has brought us this far?

But, thank God, He has.

For without Him we stand no chance,

to get through this life to spend eternity with Him.

Thanks for coming today, Friends

Til tomorrow,

Be blessed!!!

 

Prayer

Every day we hear more and more bad news coming out of Washington, and it spills over into our own back yards. And of course, along with it, is what is already here. Crime. It is everywhere.

It is with that in mind that I decided to start looking up te prayers of God's people who went through their own hard times in times past. And yet, they knew where their help came from and relied on their God to take care of them. 

I think in these times, leading up to the elections coming up in November, we should look to our God and know that it doesn't matter who wins. God will not be surprised. He already knows the outcome. And just as he did in days of old, He will take care of us. 

And so, the first prayer, will begin with my next post.

Fear or Trust?

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

There is a lot of fear going around these days. Fear of what is going on in some families. Fear of what is going on in the government. And I get it. Why people are afraid, that is.

It is going on with some of my friends. Friends that are Christians. Friends that have been raised in the church or at least at some point have given their lives to Christ and have been Christians for a few years.

I do not paint myself as a perfect Christian and therefore cannot judge my friends for their fear. For I have been there.  However, at some point, God wants to grow us up in His Word. 

Consider Hebrews 5:13-14  

You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead you have dropped back to the place where you need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles in God’s Word. You are like babies who can drink only milk, not old enough for solid food. And when a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong. He is still a baby Christian! 14 You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God’s Word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right.

I was watching a video the other evening from one of the preachers I watch on YouTube. He mentioned the assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life recently. About the craziness going on in our government. And wars going on in our world. How people are getting caught up in the fear of all of that. 

He didn't downplay the fact that things are scary. To say that would be ignorant. 

However, when that fear comes to us, like it did in a text to me by my friend the other day, it did not also come with a scripture or even a word of the hope that we have in Jesus. 

He told us that there would be perilous times would come in the end times. 2 Timothy 3:1.

But then remember what He promised us:

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:28

Friends, when we begin to doubt. Or complain. Or worry. It is those time especially (although we should be meditating on God's Word every day) that we should also remember His promises to us.  

It is one thing to share our burdens with each other. For Galatians 6:2 tells us to do this. But at the same time, we should be sharing the hope we have in Jesus. Because that is what mature Christians do. 

But we can't feed on the meat of God's Word unless we are learning and growing in it.  Milk is not going to do it as the things of this world grow darker. It is going to take much more for us to get through it. And that comes by knowing and obey His will.

Thanks for coming by today. I pray your day will be a blessing!

      

How to Know You Have Been Saved

 Have you ever struggled with thoughts of doubt about whether or not you have truly been saved or not?

I am sure that a lot of people do because our adversary the devil wants to create that doubt with in us. He wants us to worry about it and keep us off track of anything that keeps us from looking towards Christ.

So how do we know we have been saved or not when those doubts try to invade our thoughts? 

Well, please consider the following:

Everyone is born into sin, and we all “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23; cf. Romans 5:12). Therefore, everyone needs to be saved from sin and death (Romans 6:23). We cannot save ourselves. To be saved, we must place our faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins (Mark 10:45). When we place our faith in Him, we receive forgiveness for our sins (Acts 2:38), and we are made right with God (Romans 3:24).

So, how can you know that you are saved? Here are a few things that will be true about you if you are saved:

1. You believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. This means that you have confessed “with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (Romans 10:9).

2. You have repented of your sins. Repentance is the act, enabled by God, of turning away from sin and turning toward God (Acts 11:18). You have “put to death the deeds of your sinful nature” (Romans 8:13, NLT). Yes, you will still sin, but you now have an earnest desire to honor God by following His commands.

3. You have a new heart and a new life (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26; John 3:3, 5; 2 Corinthians 5:17). This means that you are no longer the same person that you used to be. Because you have been transformed by the power of God, you now have a desire to glorify Him in everything that you do (1 Corinthians 10:31).

4. You have the Holy Spirit within you. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, lives within every believer (Romans 8:9). If you have received salvation, then you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), who will empower and guide you to become more like Christ (Galatians 5:22–23).

5. You will read and obey the Bible. The Bible is God’s authoritative self-revelation to humanity (2 Timothy 3:16–17), and it is the primary way that He communicates with us. If you have received salvation, then you will want to learn more about God (Philippians 3:10) and His will for your life (Romans 12:2). You will also obey His commands out of love for Him (John 14:15).

6. You will share the gospel with others (Matthew 28:18–20). The gospel is the “good news” of what Jesus Christ has done in dying and rising again. If you have received salvation, then you will testify about the goodness of Jesus and how He transformed your life. You will want others to also experience the joy of salvation.

As a reminder, salvation is not something that we can earn or achieve. It is a gift that is provided by God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). We cannot save ourselves through good works or by trying to be a good person. It is only through faith in Jesus that we can be saved (John 14:6).

If you are uncertain about the security of your salvation, here are a few things that you can do: First, you can pray and ask God for clarity. He does not want you to wonder and worry about whether you are truly saved (see 1 John 5:13). Second, you can talk to a trusted pastor or Christian friend who can address any questions or doubts that you have. Third, you can read the Bible and study what it says about salvation and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose 

from the dead, and are you trusting Him fully? If the answer is “yes,” then you are saved. (Credit: gotquestions.org)

And so, if and when the devil try's to attack your mind with doubt about your heavenly destination, remember who died for you to give you eternal life. Romans 8:38-39 says this:

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have nothing to fear if we have truly been born again. And we can take that to our heavenly bank. Because Jesus paid it all.

Thanks for coming by Friends. May you have a blessed day!