Where is your hope? Where is your praise? If you find the one, you'll find the other. "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. Let Israel say, “His faithful love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His faithful love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His faithful love endures forever.” I called to the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place. The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is my helper, therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in nobles. All the nations surrounded me; in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them. They surrounded me like bees; they were extinguished like a fire among thorns; in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them. You pushed me hard to make me fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. There are shouts of joy and victory in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly! The Lord’s right hand is raised. The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!” I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord disciplined me severely but did not give me over to death. Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it. I will give thanks to You because You have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord; it is wonderful in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, save us! Lord, please grant us success! He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God; I will exalt You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever." (Psalm 118) Make sure your hope is in the right place. Hallelujah! My soul, praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live. Do not trust in nobles, in man, who cannot save. When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die. Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked. The Lord reigns forever; Zion, your God reigns for all generations. Hallelujah! Psalm 146 [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. It is the political season in the United States. Of course, it seems like it is always the political season anymore. Even when a man is elected President of the U.S., it seems he still spends his entire time as leader campaigning. I believe that is because we are so polarized. Anyway… there was a debate last night with 10 front-runners from the same party. I didn’t watch it. I basically already know what they are going to say, I already know what they are going to say about the others… and I don’t have cable. I actually was more intrigued watching the response of the masses (or at least my friends) on social media. I’m not going to break down the debate, or the Parties, or the current administration. Here’s what I want you to consider… Government is ordained by God. Leaders in those positions have been put there by God (however that works out.) In a democratic system like the one we have in America, we have a say in who governs us. That is heavy… heavier than we know. The apostle Paul, writing to a church leader named Timothy gives us this counsel… “Don’t be too quick to appoint anyone as an elder, and don’t share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.” (1 Timothy 5:22) Another version says that we should not lay our hands on anyone too quickly. This means that your reputation is tied to the people you approve. So be careful to not put your good name and blessing behind someone who may be flashy but has no moral substance. This is important in the Church. But it is also a valid guideline in other areas of life… including politics. One may say, “This is speaking specifically about leadership in the Church.” I won’t argue that. But with all of the references to the role of government leaders being in direct accountability to God as ordained ministers/magistrates, I think we can make a solid case that one should not put quickly lend their approval to a person who does not show stellar character in what they say and do. This cannot be found in a soundbite… even if that soundbite lines up with my own ideas. This can only be found by looking more deeply at the person. As we progress in this political season, regardless of your political leanings, be careful to not ‘be too quick to appoint anyone as elder’… whether in your local church, or in Washington, D.C. Most people would defend their choices, saying that they have not approved anyone too quickly. But everyone likes to jump on bandwagons. Just re-evaluate your own choices and with prayer decide on the ones God would have you support. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.
I’m cool with being awake. I actually like being awake. I’d rather be awake than asleep. For as long as I can remember I’ve thought sleep was a waste of time. Of course it isn’t. But it seems like it when I am awake. Yep. I like being awake… unless I am enjoying my sleep. I like being awake… but I don’t like waking up. Awakening is not my favorite process. Waking up is more difficult for some than others.
The snooze button may have been a nice invention, but I don’t think it was a good one. I enjoy the snooze a little too much. The snooze button allows you to put off getting up. It doesn’t put off waking up, because you have to be awake in order to engage the snooze button. What it puts off is the getting up. And I think most of us don’t feel like we are awake until we get up. It is one thing to put off waking up in the natural realm. It is another thing to keep hitting the snooze button in your spiritual life. God has things He wants us to do in life. He wants us to be productive as we accomplish tasks in the Kingdom. And when we are in it, we like doing those things because He has made it to where we experience good feelings, growth, and a sense of fulfillment. But often times it is the waking us up that is the problem. The apostle Paul wrote to the early Christians about our affinity to hit the snooze button in the spiritual realm… “It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” (Romans 13:11-14) Things are ramping up because things are winding down. Christ will return before too long, and when He does this chapter of grace and redemption will close. There will be no more time to do what you are supposed to do to reach a lost world. As you awaken to God’s mission, remember that you have some things to do to be ready to serve effectively. We can’t bring others into the light of God if we are living in darkness ourselves. Walk in decency. Just doing this one thing is going to be counter-cultural. Living a decent life will cause others to take note that there is something different about you. This means putting aside carousing, drunkenness, sexual impurity, and promiscuity, as well as quarreling and jealousy. You will never accomplish what you should as long as you are still participating in these activities. Paul then says that we need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the flesh.” You don’t walk out of the house without putting something on. Don’t walk into the battle without putting on Christ. Now most people would say, “I don’t plan to satisfy fleshly desires.” But when you don’t have a plan to succeed, you have a plan to fail. Not having a righteous plan is having an unrighteous plan. You don’t hit 100% of the targets you don’t aim at. If you don’t aim for holiness, you’ll miss it every time. Today, wake up. Get after it. The light is here, and it won’t last long. The clock is ticking. Snoozing is for losing. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. I happened upon this video in a Yahoo news article this morning… after I finished the devotional. I thought it was appropriate… Enjoy! We recognize many of God’s attributes, often according to what will make us feel better, or more secure at any given time. We speak of God’s love, mercy, faithfulness, grace, sovereignty, providence, etc. But we rarely speak of His holiness, unless it is in a song during worship. Think about it. When is the last time you were talking with someone and they mentioned, “God is so holy”? It just doesn’t happen. I’d say you hear, “God is not angry at you” more than you hear, “God is holy.” It is an interesting phenomenon. Look at this list of words regarding God’s character, and how many times you find them in Scripture (depending on version.) Grace – 134 Mercy – 111 Faith – 539 Love – 700 Holy – 565 Now, all of these instances are not directly in relation to God. The Bible speaks of faith, and love and mercy in regards to people as well as to God. The same happens with the idea of holiness. My point is that holiness is a huge concept in the Bible… but not so much in our daily conversation about who God is, and what we are to be. That may explain why we have more of a grandfatherly image of God. Without taking away from His more ‘cuddly’ attributes, we must recognize that His holiness is the bedrock of who He is. He is holy. That says so much about Him. Merriam-Webster defines the word ‘holy’ as, “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” That is God. He is perfect in goodness and righteousness. That is precisely how He can be unreasonably merciful and completely just at the same time. We struggle with finding and dispensing mercy and justice correctly. But God does not… because He is holy. He is perfect in goodness and righteousness. Everything God does is good and right. His most outrageous act of wrath is good and right. His most outrageous act of mercy is good and right. If He sends the nicest grandma to Hell because she did not receive His free offer of salvation, He is right and good. If He receives the worst terrorist into His eternal presence because they did receive the redeeming work of Christ in their life, He is good and right. Here is what one of the Psalmist had to say about God… “The Lord reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He is enthroned above the cherubim. Let the earth quake. Yahweh is great in Zion; He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awe-inspiring name. He is holy. The mighty King loves justice. You have established fairness; You have administered justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; bow in worship at His footstool. He is holy. Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel also was among those calling on His name. They called to Yahweh and He answered them. He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud; they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them. Lord our God, You answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, an avenger of their sinful actions. Exalt the Lord our God; bow in worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.” (Psalm 99) We may not refer to God’s holiness in every conversation. But we must believe it, and live in the light of it. It must be a foundational truth to which we hold and lean. Our understanding of God is as incomplete without a proper appreciation of His holiness as it is without a proper appreciation of His love. The fact that God is holy does not just impact how He interacts with us, but how we live our lives before Him and others. He is a holy God and He has every right to expect holiness out of His people. I think most people, including most Christians avoid the topic of God’s holiness because they don’t want to have that measure of accountability. We want God to be holy, but we don’t want to have to be holy. This is interesting because we want to love like God, show mercy like God, be as faithful as God, and have the wisdom of God. But we seem to avoid His holiness. Today, to the best of your ability, recognize His holiness and let it inform and inspire you to live a life that is well-pleasing and reflective of the God you serve. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
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