PSALM 73 – HEART STRENGTH

This psalm records the near slip of a believer as the frustration of watching the wicked and arrogant takes hold of his heart. They seem prosperous, confident … “their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth” … they appear carefree and others follow them.

 

VERSES 21-26 record the turn of the believer’s heart back to God.

 

“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

 

Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory.

 

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And earth has nothing I desire besides You.

 

My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

 

 

 

PSALM 62 – a few of the verses

1: My soul finds rest in God alone;

   my salvation comes from Him.

 

2: He alone is my rock and my salvation;

    He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

 

5: Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

    my hope comes from Him.

 

7: My salvation and my honor depend on God;

     He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

 

8: Trust in Him at all times, O people;

       pour out your hearts to Him,

          for God is our refuge.

 

His character:

11 & 12: One thing God has spoken,

                     two things have I heard:

                  that You, O God, are strong,

                  and that You, O Lord, are loving.

                Surely You will reward each person

                  According to what he has done.

 

ARMOR - EPHESIANS 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

 

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

 

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

WHEN WE RUN OUT OF STRENGTH

Ever felt discouraged … or that your life doesn’t matter … or just plain tired? Have you wondered if maybe even God forgot you?

 

 

ISAIAH 40: 28- 31

 

“Do you not know?

 Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

 the Creator of the ends of the earth.

 

He will not grow tired or weary,

 and His understanding no one can fathom.

 

He gives strength to the weary

 and increases the power of the weak.

 

Even youths grow tired and weary,

 and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

 

They will soar on wings like eagles;

 they will run and not grow weary,

 they will walk and not be faint.”

 

Better than an energy drink or anything else we can come up with – hoping in the Lord renews our strength!

 

A SUCCESSFUL WITNESS From John chapter 1

Philip found Nathanael to tell him they had found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and the one the prophets had written about … Jesus of Nazareth. This was exciting news!!

 

Nathanael’s response?

“Can anything good come from there?”

 

Ever told someone about Jesus and received a lukewarm response? Maybe the person you shared with nodded or kept going about their business, which left you feeling like you somehow missed the mark.

 

Watch this.

 

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

 

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

 

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

 

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” 

 

Isn’t that so cool??!!  Philip was excited for Nathanael to meet Jesus and made the introduction. Jesus had His eyes on Nathanael before Philip ever said a word. Nathanael’s own experience with Jesus is what brought him to faith.

 

So relax.

Introduce Jesus.

He’s got this.

 

 

WORD POWER - MARK 11:22-25

The context of these verses:

         The day before when Jesus was hungry, He had gone to a fig tree but found nothing but leaves. So Jesus spoke to the tree saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

         The next day as the disciples passed, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots … Peter remembered Jesus’ words and called attention to the tree.

 

Jesus response:

         “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

DIRECTION

Some thoughts from Psalm 119

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

 

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.

 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

 

Direction for our lives sits waiting for us … to open the Word … and follow our reading with our thoughts and actions. Blessings!

 

CLIPS FROM GENESIS

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

 

God to Cain before he killed his brother Abel:

“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

 

How Abraham got in good with God:

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited to him as righteousness.”

 

God guards those who may sin without knowledge:

“Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me.”

 

But once we know … we need to obey:

“Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet and will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die.”

 

Suffering can lead to great outcomes … Joseph on explaining God’s purpose stands above the circumstances of life:

“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”

WHERE LOVE BEGINS … and darkness ends ... JOHN 3:14 – 21

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, (see the story in Numbers 21: 4- 9) so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

 

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

 

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

 

But whoever lives by truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

 

WHEN I AM AFRAID

Psalm 56: 3 and 4

 

         When I am afraid, I will trust in You.

         In God whose word I praise,

                  In God I trust; I will not be afraid.

                  What can mortal man do to me?

 

Psalm 46: 1 – 3

 

         God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.

         Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

         Though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

 

In the book of Mark, chapter 5: Jairus came and fell at the feet of Jesus … his daughter was dying … he begged Jesus to heal her.  As they walked, men came and told Jairus that his daughter was dead … there was no point in bothering Jesus …

 

         Verse 36 – Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

 

Is there something in life today that we need to ignore people and believe Jesus for?

A few pointed words from MALACHI

An admonition on our approach to God

 

1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.

 

1:14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”

 

An admonition to priests

 

2:2 “If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name, “ says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings…”

 

An admonition to the people  

 

2:16b “… So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.”

 

Returning to God

 

3:6 & 7 “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.

     Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

 

The results of acceptable offerings

 

3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

 

What they did then – we can do now also …

 

3:16 – “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name.”

 

He still listens … hears … remembers.

 

 

NEXT TIME WE FEEL THE NEED TO QUESTION GOD’S PLAN

A FEW EXCERPTS FROM HIS RESUME

 from Job – chapters 38 – 42.

Read them in their entirety for an unforgettable experience with God.

 

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm…

 

         Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?        

         …while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy

 

         Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?

 

         What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

 

Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons?

 

Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

 

         Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?

 

         Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

 

         Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom?

 

         Do you have an arm like God’s and can your voice thunder like His?

 

         Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook … will he keep begging you for mercy … no one is fierce enough to rouse him …

 

Everything under heaven belongs to Me.

 

… the Lord accepted Job’s prayer

… the Lord made him prosperous again

… the Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first

 

         THE LORD ALONE IS GOD … trust Him … He’s got this!

RECONCILIATION

ROMANS 5: 6 – 11

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

 

MATTHEW 5: 23 – 24

Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

 

2 CORINTHIANS 5: 16 -19

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

All this from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

 

GENESIS 19:26

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

         

RENEWAL

ISAIAH 40: 28- 31

   Do you not know?

         Have you not heard?

         The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

         He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.

         He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

         Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

         they will soar on wings like eagles;

            they will run and not grow weary,

                 they will walk and not be faint.

WHAT IF I HAVE STRAYED TOO FAR FROM THE LORD?

Deuteronomy 30:4 – “Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.”

 

Deuteronomy 30:6 – “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

 

Deuteronomy 30: 11 – 14  

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”

Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”

No the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”

SAFE HAVEN

ROMANS 8: 38 & 39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I think that about sums up a safe haven!

WHEN WE ARE LOST IN LIFE

Psalm 32:6 – 8

         “Therefore let everyone who is godly

pray to You

while You may be found;

         surely when the mighty waters rise,

                  they will not reach him.

 

         You are my hiding place;

         You will protect me from trouble

         And surround me with songs of

                  deliverance.

 

         I will instruct you and teach you in

                  the way you should go;

         I will counsel you and watch over you.”