The Devotional – 1478 – The who, of who your are.

The Devotional – 1478 – The who, of who your are.

Psalm 119:17-24 – Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing For Your judgments at all times. You rebuke the proud--the cursed, Who stray from Your commandments. Remove from me reproach and contempt, For I have kept Your testimonies. Princes also sit and speak against me, But Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors.

Comments and Challenges

When is the last time you asked the LORD God to deal bountifully with you? No doubt if you have had prayer today; it was today. Prayerful requests like keep me safe as I travel, or give me neither poverty nor riches – feed me with the food You prescribe for me (Proverbs 30:7-9) are common among us believers. Let me ask us all a question. Did we ask this of the LORD God in order to live and keep His Word, or did we ask this of Him for selfish reasons?

Notice too that the writer of Psalm 119 is interested in the eyes of his soul and yes our soul is able to see, but many times the vision is blocked. Worry in the mind or the distraction of some form of evil. The wondrous things of the law of God are found in Psalm 19:7-9, the law of the LORD is perfect, His testimonies are sure, His statutes are right, His commandment is pure. Fearing the LORD is purifying and His judgments are true and righteous.

And do you consider that you are a stranger on the earth, if not then no doubt about it; the restoration of your soul at times is blind to the law of God which is perfect, the testimony of the LORD which is able to make you wise, the statutes of the LORD that always rejoice the heart, the commandments that will open your eyes. And yes to be clean and in the Spirit is to fear God, understanding that His judgments are true and righteous.

The desire to be face to face with our Savior is strong, but it should be understood that the LORD God has prepared a table of His presence in our present state of life, Ephesians 1:3-14. Who can understand this, that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we can have His presence and assurance, but we must first allow God to cleanse us of those secret faults; now do not say that you have no secret faults! If God knows what these are… so do you.

Instead of letting the world’s powers and persuasions direct your life, let the Word of God dwell in you and you will notice a wonderful blessing and rejoice as your soul expresses that the Testimonies of God are not only a delight but also a wonderful counsellor. I do not know about you but I do know about me; if I look to the world power and allow myself to be persuaded in accordance with the world, then when I lay down at night, my sleep is not peaceful.

LORD, teach us to use the resources of our soul and the Power of the Holy Spirit as we look to You, since all else is simply foolishness.  

The Devotional - Tuesday's Blog

The Devotional – Tuesday’s Blog

Psalm 119:73-80 – Seeking the fellowship of eternity minded people is like anticipating the visit of a close personal friend. These are folks who know the testimonies of the LORD, those who FEAR Him too! All sharing in solid fellowship and it is the joy of having eternity in one’s heart! Ecclesiastes 3:11

Comments and Challenges

The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, King of Israel – Hosea 1:1. Although he is classified as one of the Minor Prophets, his prophesy covers a period of sixty years. His style of writing is abrupt (sudden or unexpected), metaphorical (one thing spoken of in place of another) or urgently.

The prophet Hosea is commanded by God to take a wife who is a harlot; an experience few husbands are capable dealing with except by the grace of God. She displays herself as immoral and she ends up a prostitute on the street before Hosea marries her. (Her life at this time is in the hands of a bankrupt world).

In view of the context, just in the first chapter; God allows and provides Hosea with strength; strength that forgives and restores her as his lovely bride. The restoration of Gomer is a perfect picture of God's grace over one sinner or over a nation.

The book of Hosea is a picture of Christ who has regarded our helpless estate, through His blood He reclaims each of us personally and by His Grace he adopts us into His family. Hosea 1:2-9 will give us the picture of Hosea's worldly family. The book is fourteen chapters of Gods compassion and desire to restore sinful Gomer (Israel or any adulterous nation). The redeeming power of God is the forgiving power of Jesus Christ. (Not the church as some theologians or theologies preach or teach).

The Good News (the Gospel) is not 2,000 plus years of God's compassion and desire to restore people and nations to God; the Gospel is as recorded in Revelation 14:6, EVERLASTING or eternal. Like Gomer who experiences the joy and fellowship of Hosea’s family through Justification and sanctification in human life these are the processes of our ongoing spiritual salvation experience. God takes us further though since we are soon to be glorified or everlasting, too.

I would like to study Hosea further, so if the LORD will open that door I will be spending time in this book and other related books of the Holy Bible to challenge the remnant. Not that our nation is going to survive this current trend into the abyss, which many believe is no longer reversible since our national and religious leaders are a melting pot for liberalism and adulterous ways. Yes and “To God be the glory” there is a remnant of people who will not receive the coming “mark of liberalism” and I hope you are one of us.

Tuesday’s Blog – Positionally Seated

Daily Devotional - Positionally Seated

Tuesday’s Blog – Positionally Seated

Proverbs 10:31-32 – The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.

Bible Challenges and Comments

In a room full of people the roar of perverse conversation is loud and overpowering. The work place, in the school, at any sporting event and in the home of the unbelieving (Proverbs17:1) there is little quietness because of the strife. 

God has called us out of the world of strife and placed us in the kingdom of Christ. Note Colossians 3:1-3. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your affection (peaceful position) on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Andrew Murray in his book; The Inner Life makes this thought clear that if we have an audience with God through Christ, then we must also have a spiritual sense of need to live in the place He has for us in Christ. Positional sanctification sets us apart from the perverse audience of the world and to step into this unacceptable perverseness of the tongue and action is to reject the positional grace of God.

I suppose it is difficult to realize the purity of being in Christ; I mean, how often we do we think about the holiness of Heaven and our position in Christ. Jesus Christ is seated at the “right hand” of God. Look! If the throne room was an automobile and Jesus was driving and you are His passenger in the front seat, you would be sitting at His “Right Hand”. Or more biblically stated; you are sitting with Christ in the “holy of holies”.

How is it then we seem to make ourselves comfortable in both places? From one side of our life (the flesh) we find ourselves with the talk of the world and covet their conversations, this is idolatry; Colossians 3:4-6 and this causes God’s wrath to come on the sons and daughters of disobedient believers. The result is that the world sees God’s children the same as they see them self and our testimony as a child of God is ruined.

The struggle of being in Christ or in the flesh is strong and one reason it is so strong is that our view of our position in Christ is upward, sort of like always striving to be there with Him (in the flesh) and of course that will never happened… “Flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 15:50. 

To correct this, we must do as the apostle Paul teaches in Colossians Three and simply be seated with Christ at His Right hand. The view from the Top is to be positioned from above where Christ is; rather than fleshly positioned or earthly aware. In this position you and I cannot see the next devilish punch or where it is coming from. The character of a heavenly position is Colossians 3:12-17.

Tuesday’s Blog – The influence of oppressive behavior

Tuesday’s Blog – The influence of oppressive behavior

Proverbs 3:31-32 – Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; for the perverse are an abomination to the LORD, but His secret counsel is with the upright.

Bible Challenges and Comments

Being around a person who is oppressive is strategically dangerous; while growing up we are influenced by those people whom we love and respect and by those whom we want to love but are afraid of. The years of a child (and we adults know this) are filled with opportunity to trust the ways of the adult and in learning the ways to trust those we love, we also learn the ways of those whom we do not trust. 

Solomon in Proverbs most always speaks as a father to a son, I think that this is called a “first person singular” conversation and my understanding is that in order to speak or write this way there must be first-hand “experience” in one’s own life before writing or speaking. Our communication of writing or speaking of things of no experience are seldom spoken or recorded of, lest you be found a liar.

A quick example: A while back I took a part time position as a writer of “technical books” like how to outfit or build military boats and ships. (The job only lasted a few months) I enjoyed the challenge of searching the various information available to me as some of it was classified. Since I did not have any “first-hand experience” at equipping or building small attack boats or larger vessels of war the research took all of my time and writing on some days was none existent. This was a problem since part of the “job description” was to complete one full page of written instruction daily.

A five year tenure in a school, a culture, a prison or any other camp or place of internment would not be oppressive or influential – IT IS OPPRESSIVE AND INFLUENTIAL. Anyone who has spent time incarcerated in the enemy’s prison camp will tell you of the overwhelming influence of this sort of oppressive training. Whether or not a person loves or hates those who are influencing those means little; we call it “brain washing”. Even in our local jails, if a person stays just three years in prison, the influence of being there and returning is very strong and it is said that 75% return to prison, not because of crime (although crime returns them) but because they are influenced or miss prison life.

One reading of the Book of Daniel proves at least TWO things. (1) God is in control, and (2) He will use mankind to fulfill His Plan. So as we who TRUST in God see the events of our day unfold; we are the only ones who can discuss the current events with a “first person singular” knowledge of the One we Love, who is preparing our future; who in using the captured and the released to bring a nation such as ours to our knees, either by victory of the enemy’s oppression; or by victory through the influence of prayer to God in whom we trust. God will put us on our knees one way or the other.

We live in times “EXCITING” I would hope that all who read this understand this.