Ps 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." NIV
When someone has experienced the presence of God, when a heart has tasted the joy of standing before God with a clean conscience that does not accuse them in God’s presence, when someone has felt the confident inner strength that flows from walking in the Spirit it is a dramatic sense of loss when your heart has become distracted for a season and you find yourself caught in a lukewarm or sinful state. Your heart no longer feels the burning sense of God’s companionship and your inner life is dulled by the dilution of other things. This is the context of the cry found within Psalm 51:10-12. David has been a radical worshipper, prophetic voice, triumphant warrior and anointed king throughout the seasons of his life. He has tasted of the radiance of God’s favor and abiding presence upon his days but in a series of failures that have progressed out of a season of untimely rest David has fallen into a place of sin and separation that is weighing heavily upon his heart.
Instead of cries of praise and celebration or prayers of intercession for victory in battle his prayers have turned towards his own inner sense of loss and sinfulness. “Create in me a pure heart, O God…” David’s longing is for the sense of defilement that he has exchanged for his confidence before God to be lifted off. He can feel the pressure within his heart that is the fruit of conviction burning in his conscience and he turns his cry to heaven for a work of transformation that will make him whole. He understands that he has lost his focus and that by allowing his successes to become an excuse for self-indulgence that has resulted in losing his position of bold faith before the Lord. And with that realization David cries out to God “renew a steadfast spirit in me.” David has the understanding that what his heart needs is a steadfastness to be worked in his character. Every man and woman of God must come to the place of being unshakeable. Every servant of the Lord must wrestle for the complete transformation of their character that will enable them to walk with stability and consistency in those seasons of blessing, favor and increase that the Lord wants to pour out upon his children. We need desperately to learn the lesson of our own human potential for self-indulgence. It is easy to stay focused when the bullets are flying. It is easy to stay firm when you are fighting for your very life, but when those seasons of rest, those opportunities for discreet escapes into self-indulgence and compromise present themselves our hearts somehow justify our actions with all the reasons that we deserve this illicit pleasure. David knows this path well now and in his pain he is crying out to the Lord, “Make me steadfast; make me unmovable!”
In his pain David cries out for the knowledge of the presence of God to be restored to him. He has lived as it were under and open heavens and now his sin has separated him from the conscious knowledge of God’s abiding presence. This pain is almost too much for him to bear and he cries out “Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me!” This cry is a reflection of the understanding that the greatest loss a believer can experience is the loss of God’s conscious presence carrying us, empowering us, speaking within us! Sin separates us from the most precious pleasure the world has ever known- the conscious knowledge that God is with us!
David knows that his heart is now ensnared in this cycle of sinfulness. He knows that he is not burning with the presence that he once enjoyed and so he lifts up a potent phrase before the throne of God that reflects this sense of loss that is working to convict his heart; “restore to me the joy of your salvation!” David has known the joy of being in a right relationship with God and so the absence of the empowering joy that comes from having a pure heart before God is painful to bear. In his weakness, in his understanding of his potential for backsliding David continues his plea for mercy by asking for the great necessity of the Christian life “grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” When we fall into seasons of sin it is because we have lost the foundational ingredient to success in God; willingness! David knows that his heart has lost its willingness to press into the disciplines of his spiritual life. He recognizes that his love for the pleasures of this life has grown as his circumstances have become more favorable and that as a result his heart has grown cold to the burning of God’s presence. With this realization David lifts up a cry for a new motivation to run hard after God: “grant me a willing spirit to sustain me!” Ask God today for a willingness to do all that he asks of you. Cry out for the sustaining power of a “yes” towards God in your inner most being and will carry you through the times of temptation with great victory because of the greater vision that is burning within your heart!
Friday
Psalm 51:6 - June 5, 2009
Ps 51:6 "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." NIV
Truth and wisdom in the inner man – two great desires in God’s plan for you! When you consider the living God and all that he might desire in regard to us it is profoundly impacting to realize that what He is most concerned about is the condition of your inner man. What lies within you in your secret motives and your deepest reasoning? This psalm is a call to us to focus on the inner qualities of our life not just the outer circumstances.
What happens in your heart when you are faced with information that is uncomfortable such as a self revelation that you have a problem with anger or fear of rejection? Does seeing yourself move you to repentance or does that momentary realization of your need compel you to either shift the blame for this condition to others or make excuses that somehow deny that you really have this problem. God’s desire is that we are able to humbly acknowledge those areas of brokenness in our lives that do not reflect the image of the Lord. God knows our makeup and is constantly working to reveal to us our inner needs so that we can be transformed but we block this process of change if we live in denial of our need! Ps. 32:2 says, “Blessed is the man…in whose spirit there is no deceit” The simple definition of the word blessed is “happy!” So now let’s consider that verse again. “Happy is the man… in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Do you want to be truly happy in this life? Be honest with yourself and with the Lord! When we face the truth about our inner needs we are on the path to great breakthroughs as we surrender those areas to the convicting hand of the Lord.
The more we deny the truth of an area of our lives the more we are forced to harden our conscience to the voice to the Holy Spirit speaking inside of us. This creates a great diminishing of the work of God both inside of us and through us. If we will not be honest with ourselves then how can we be honest with the Lord, and if there is deception within us we will not be able to discern truth and the wisdom that comes from walking out the knowledge of the truth. The intention of God concerning you is that wisdom grows from your experience of facing the truths that He reveals in your inner man. It is when we allow God to do His transforming work in us that our hearts become truly wise. When we have faced ourselves with honesty we can now relate to others without the biased of our own self deception. So often we miss interpret other people’s words, actions and motives because we are filtering them through the lens of our own self deception; the areas where we have not allowed God to come in and cleanse us!
Give your heart to the Lord with an open honesty that allows Him to show you your inner need. Allow Him to speak to you without denying the things that He shows you about yourself and then embrace the sometimes painful process of surrendering those areas of need to His all powerful grace. Know that He can change even those deep rooted areas of your life that you have been withdrawing from for many years. Receive the knowledge that this exposure of truth will not cause God to reject you the way that people are tempted to do. God already knows! It is only you that is just now discovering your need. His love for you was already waiting before you were born. He knew you by name before you were conceived and has been working out your destiny with a complete knowledge of every one of your deficiencies. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and so we can rest in the safety of His compassion as we honestly consider the deep issues in need of personal transformation that lie within our inner most parts! Trust Him and let Him into that dark room inside of you today!
Truth and wisdom in the inner man – two great desires in God’s plan for you! When you consider the living God and all that he might desire in regard to us it is profoundly impacting to realize that what He is most concerned about is the condition of your inner man. What lies within you in your secret motives and your deepest reasoning? This psalm is a call to us to focus on the inner qualities of our life not just the outer circumstances.
What happens in your heart when you are faced with information that is uncomfortable such as a self revelation that you have a problem with anger or fear of rejection? Does seeing yourself move you to repentance or does that momentary realization of your need compel you to either shift the blame for this condition to others or make excuses that somehow deny that you really have this problem. God’s desire is that we are able to humbly acknowledge those areas of brokenness in our lives that do not reflect the image of the Lord. God knows our makeup and is constantly working to reveal to us our inner needs so that we can be transformed but we block this process of change if we live in denial of our need! Ps. 32:2 says, “Blessed is the man…in whose spirit there is no deceit” The simple definition of the word blessed is “happy!” So now let’s consider that verse again. “Happy is the man… in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Do you want to be truly happy in this life? Be honest with yourself and with the Lord! When we face the truth about our inner needs we are on the path to great breakthroughs as we surrender those areas to the convicting hand of the Lord.
The more we deny the truth of an area of our lives the more we are forced to harden our conscience to the voice to the Holy Spirit speaking inside of us. This creates a great diminishing of the work of God both inside of us and through us. If we will not be honest with ourselves then how can we be honest with the Lord, and if there is deception within us we will not be able to discern truth and the wisdom that comes from walking out the knowledge of the truth. The intention of God concerning you is that wisdom grows from your experience of facing the truths that He reveals in your inner man. It is when we allow God to do His transforming work in us that our hearts become truly wise. When we have faced ourselves with honesty we can now relate to others without the biased of our own self deception. So often we miss interpret other people’s words, actions and motives because we are filtering them through the lens of our own self deception; the areas where we have not allowed God to come in and cleanse us!
Give your heart to the Lord with an open honesty that allows Him to show you your inner need. Allow Him to speak to you without denying the things that He shows you about yourself and then embrace the sometimes painful process of surrendering those areas of need to His all powerful grace. Know that He can change even those deep rooted areas of your life that you have been withdrawing from for many years. Receive the knowledge that this exposure of truth will not cause God to reject you the way that people are tempted to do. God already knows! It is only you that is just now discovering your need. His love for you was already waiting before you were born. He knew you by name before you were conceived and has been working out your destiny with a complete knowledge of every one of your deficiencies. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and so we can rest in the safety of His compassion as we honestly consider the deep issues in need of personal transformation that lie within our inner most parts! Trust Him and let Him into that dark room inside of you today!
Thursday
Psalm 51:1-2 - June 4, 2009
Ps 51:1-2 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." NIV
Psalm 51 is one of the best known psalms in the world. Consider the context of this prayer of repentance. David, the man after God’s own heart, has fallen into an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and has sought to cover up his sinful actions by arranging for the death of her husband Uriah in a premeditated act of murder by placing him at the front lines during a ferocious battle and having the other men abandon him. Here is David, carrying the weight of that transgression upon his conscience and seeking to restore his relationship to God. He knows that he is guilty. He is not covering up his actions with excuses and blame shifting, nor justifying them as somehow acceptable because of his position as king. He is simply crying out for mercy! This is the best approach to the living God when we have fallen into sin whether it is big or small in its sense of significance in regard to our hearts. But the question lingers, “how can someone who has committed such a serious offense dare to believe that God could forgive them?” This is the great wonder of relationship with the living God!
David has a revelation of who God is to him that transcends even the power of his greatest sins and failures. When David lifts his cry for mercy into the heavens he knows that he is calling out to the heart of a God whom he has come to know as the God of unfailing love and great compassion. Even though his sin is great he is confident that God’s loving compassion is greater still. David lived in the conscious knowledge that God was considerate of the fact that we are weak human vessels. In Ps 103:13-14 David the father heart of God towards his children “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” His understanding of God is that in the same way that an earthly father is considerate of the immaturity of his young children, extending great patience in regard to their weaknesses and failures, even so God is mindful of us. It is this revelation that is at the center of David’s cry. “I am loved by a merciful God!”
Equally important in this passage is David’s acceptance of responsibility. David not only approaches God with a cry for mercy. He comes seeking to be cleansed. He recognizes that his sinfulness has separated him from God and has left him defiled in God’s presence. Even though he has fallen greatly he is still conscious of what he has lost in regard to God’s presence and is not content to stay in his fallen state. These two verses are the introductory phrases of one of the greatest pleas for restoration and redemption that man has ever known. In these verses David cries out for his sins to be blotted away, their stain upon his heart to be removed and he appeals to be washed and cleansed. His appeal is two-fold in its nature. David’s desire is that the impact of his sins in God’s mind be forgiven and also that their stain upon his own heart be washed away. It is important to realize that our sins damage us on both levels. When we sin, our offenses before God become as a wedge between us and God, separating us from His presence, but they also mark our own hearts in such a way that we are damaged in our ability to have peace to live and confidence before God.
I Jn. 3:21 tells us that if our hearts do not condemn us then “we have confidence before God.” Therefore this passage also implies that if our hearts DO condemn us we do not have confidence before him. We suffer both in our relationship with our self through our conviction and towards God through a defiled conscience. The good news is that God loves us and is ready to forgive each man or woman who approaches him in genuine repentance, seeking forgiveness through the blood of His son Jesus Christ! We serve a God of love who knows our weaknesses and is infinitely patient as he seeks to draws us to Himself with cords of love and kindness.
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." NIV
Psalm 51 is one of the best known psalms in the world. Consider the context of this prayer of repentance. David, the man after God’s own heart, has fallen into an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and has sought to cover up his sinful actions by arranging for the death of her husband Uriah in a premeditated act of murder by placing him at the front lines during a ferocious battle and having the other men abandon him. Here is David, carrying the weight of that transgression upon his conscience and seeking to restore his relationship to God. He knows that he is guilty. He is not covering up his actions with excuses and blame shifting, nor justifying them as somehow acceptable because of his position as king. He is simply crying out for mercy! This is the best approach to the living God when we have fallen into sin whether it is big or small in its sense of significance in regard to our hearts. But the question lingers, “how can someone who has committed such a serious offense dare to believe that God could forgive them?” This is the great wonder of relationship with the living God!
David has a revelation of who God is to him that transcends even the power of his greatest sins and failures. When David lifts his cry for mercy into the heavens he knows that he is calling out to the heart of a God whom he has come to know as the God of unfailing love and great compassion. Even though his sin is great he is confident that God’s loving compassion is greater still. David lived in the conscious knowledge that God was considerate of the fact that we are weak human vessels. In Ps 103:13-14 David the father heart of God towards his children “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” His understanding of God is that in the same way that an earthly father is considerate of the immaturity of his young children, extending great patience in regard to their weaknesses and failures, even so God is mindful of us. It is this revelation that is at the center of David’s cry. “I am loved by a merciful God!”
Equally important in this passage is David’s acceptance of responsibility. David not only approaches God with a cry for mercy. He comes seeking to be cleansed. He recognizes that his sinfulness has separated him from God and has left him defiled in God’s presence. Even though he has fallen greatly he is still conscious of what he has lost in regard to God’s presence and is not content to stay in his fallen state. These two verses are the introductory phrases of one of the greatest pleas for restoration and redemption that man has ever known. In these verses David cries out for his sins to be blotted away, their stain upon his heart to be removed and he appeals to be washed and cleansed. His appeal is two-fold in its nature. David’s desire is that the impact of his sins in God’s mind be forgiven and also that their stain upon his own heart be washed away. It is important to realize that our sins damage us on both levels. When we sin, our offenses before God become as a wedge between us and God, separating us from His presence, but they also mark our own hearts in such a way that we are damaged in our ability to have peace to live and confidence before God.
I Jn. 3:21 tells us that if our hearts do not condemn us then “we have confidence before God.” Therefore this passage also implies that if our hearts DO condemn us we do not have confidence before him. We suffer both in our relationship with our self through our conviction and towards God through a defiled conscience. The good news is that God loves us and is ready to forgive each man or woman who approaches him in genuine repentance, seeking forgiveness through the blood of His son Jesus Christ! We serve a God of love who knows our weaknesses and is infinitely patient as he seeks to draws us to Himself with cords of love and kindness.
Wednesday
Psalm 50:22-23 - June 3, 2009
Ps 50:22-23 "Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue: 23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." NIV
Can you say wow!? What a warning to those who forget God. “Consider this… or I will tear you to pieces!!!” The scriptures do not get any more direct than that! This passage carries within it an ominous warning to those who would forget God. “Don’t do it!” Here we have one of Bible’s strongest statements of warning and potential judgment and let us look at the subject that is the center of this reminder, “Thanksgiving!”
James taught the church an important principle in James 1:16-17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” He reminds us that everything worth having that we enjoy in our lives has come from God! Job echoes this thought in Job 1:21 as he worshipfully declares, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." We began our lives with nothing. How foolish then it seems that we should boast in what we have achieved as if it were by our own strength. One might say “I inherited these things from my parents and not from God.” But if that is your reasoning then consider that you could have been born to a different family and where did your family receive its prosperity in the first place.
Once there was a great king who ruled over the nation of Babylon. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. In Da. 4:5 it is recorded that this king was boastful that his great riches and power were the fruit of his own efforts. In a dream he received a warning that called him, like in this psalm, to remember that all he possessed was the Lord’s doing not his. He rejected this caution and the prophetic confirmation that followed it. One short year later, not having learned from this dire warning, as he walks on his rooftop reveling in his own greatness a voice speaks and initiates judgment. Dan 4:32 “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Imagine going from King to a beast like mental imbalance by the judgment of God to work humility in your heart!
The psalmist in Ps. 5o:22 gives us a strong caution reminding us of God’s readiness to punish the proud and give grace to the humble of offer thanksgiving to God in acknowledgment of all that He has done. Too many people live focused on the things that they haven’t gotten instead of living grateful for those things that they have received! The good news is that God will not only punish the ungrateful and unthankful; He will bless those who do acknowledge Him. Ps. 50:22 equally reminds us that those who live with a thankful heart prepare the way for God’s salvation. When we honor him with our thanksgiving, which demonstrates humility and dependence, we place ourselves before Him as beneficiaries of His gracious salvation. Thanksgiving is truly a token of humility and places honor upon God as the one that we look to as our source. It is a sign that we have rejected the temptation to praise ourselves for our accomplishments and an evidence of our acceptance of Him as provider and Lord. Today choose a thankful heart!
Can you say wow!? What a warning to those who forget God. “Consider this… or I will tear you to pieces!!!” The scriptures do not get any more direct than that! This passage carries within it an ominous warning to those who would forget God. “Don’t do it!” Here we have one of Bible’s strongest statements of warning and potential judgment and let us look at the subject that is the center of this reminder, “Thanksgiving!”
James taught the church an important principle in James 1:16-17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” He reminds us that everything worth having that we enjoy in our lives has come from God! Job echoes this thought in Job 1:21 as he worshipfully declares, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." We began our lives with nothing. How foolish then it seems that we should boast in what we have achieved as if it were by our own strength. One might say “I inherited these things from my parents and not from God.” But if that is your reasoning then consider that you could have been born to a different family and where did your family receive its prosperity in the first place.
Once there was a great king who ruled over the nation of Babylon. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. In Da. 4:5 it is recorded that this king was boastful that his great riches and power were the fruit of his own efforts. In a dream he received a warning that called him, like in this psalm, to remember that all he possessed was the Lord’s doing not his. He rejected this caution and the prophetic confirmation that followed it. One short year later, not having learned from this dire warning, as he walks on his rooftop reveling in his own greatness a voice speaks and initiates judgment. Dan 4:32 “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Imagine going from King to a beast like mental imbalance by the judgment of God to work humility in your heart!
The psalmist in Ps. 5o:22 gives us a strong caution reminding us of God’s readiness to punish the proud and give grace to the humble of offer thanksgiving to God in acknowledgment of all that He has done. Too many people live focused on the things that they haven’t gotten instead of living grateful for those things that they have received! The good news is that God will not only punish the ungrateful and unthankful; He will bless those who do acknowledge Him. Ps. 50:22 equally reminds us that those who live with a thankful heart prepare the way for God’s salvation. When we honor him with our thanksgiving, which demonstrates humility and dependence, we place ourselves before Him as beneficiaries of His gracious salvation. Thanksgiving is truly a token of humility and places honor upon God as the one that we look to as our source. It is a sign that we have rejected the temptation to praise ourselves for our accomplishments and an evidence of our acceptance of Him as provider and Lord. Today choose a thankful heart!
Tuesday
Psalm 50:3-6 - June 2, 2009
Ps 50:3-6 "Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him and around him a tempest rages. 4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people: 5 "Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." 6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge." NIV
Though too often God’s people are silent in the face of injustice our God will not remain silent! Ps. 50:3-6 is the sounding of an alarm. It is the announcing of God’s justice. It is the warning of his coming. In Psalm 119:84 a cry is raised before God as an appeal for justice: “How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?” This cry is an intercession for the release of God’s coming. In every situation there is an appointed time of God’s coming. That moment in time when the bowls of prayer in the heavenly realm reach the tipping point and God arises to stand on behalf of the cries of his people to deliver those who call out to him in their time of need. But there is an even greater cry arising! There is a sound rising from underneath the altar of God, a cry from the blood of the martyrs that is arising into the heavenly realms and this cry demands justice. This cry is recorded in Rev 6:9-11 as a vision of John the beloved and he states, “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’”
Throughout the pages of scripture the Lord reminds us over and over again that he hears and answers the prayers of the upright. He has promised us very specifically in Ps 4:3 “Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him.” If this is indeed the promise of God, that He will hear and answer prayer then we can be assured that if He has recorded a prayer from the hearts of the martyrs we can know that the answer is assured. There will be a time of justice. There will be a day when the Lord comes to avenge the blood of His saints that has been shed because of their testimony. There will come a day when all men stand before Him and are held accountable for their deeds in this life.
God is coming and will not stay silent. Those events in our lives that in our pain we feel have gone by us with no answer from the Lord will have a day of reckoning. Those injustices that have touched us will all have a day of vindication and Psalm 50:3-6 is a reminder of that coming day. It is a reminder to live in the light of God’s eternal justice. Too many people live casually throughout their days, never reflecting on the fact that there will be a time when both the natural and spiritual consequences of their deeds will catch up to them, a day when they will present their case before the living God and He will ask an account of them. Ps. 50:3-6 is a call from God to come into His presence and to live in the light of His eternal justice with a holy fear guarding our hearts from presumptuous actions. Draw near to God today and let Him renew your conscience so that each decision is made in the light of eternal reward and consequences!
Though too often God’s people are silent in the face of injustice our God will not remain silent! Ps. 50:3-6 is the sounding of an alarm. It is the announcing of God’s justice. It is the warning of his coming. In Psalm 119:84 a cry is raised before God as an appeal for justice: “How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?” This cry is an intercession for the release of God’s coming. In every situation there is an appointed time of God’s coming. That moment in time when the bowls of prayer in the heavenly realm reach the tipping point and God arises to stand on behalf of the cries of his people to deliver those who call out to him in their time of need. But there is an even greater cry arising! There is a sound rising from underneath the altar of God, a cry from the blood of the martyrs that is arising into the heavenly realms and this cry demands justice. This cry is recorded in Rev 6:9-11 as a vision of John the beloved and he states, “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’”
Throughout the pages of scripture the Lord reminds us over and over again that he hears and answers the prayers of the upright. He has promised us very specifically in Ps 4:3 “Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him.” If this is indeed the promise of God, that He will hear and answer prayer then we can be assured that if He has recorded a prayer from the hearts of the martyrs we can know that the answer is assured. There will be a time of justice. There will be a day when the Lord comes to avenge the blood of His saints that has been shed because of their testimony. There will come a day when all men stand before Him and are held accountable for their deeds in this life.
God is coming and will not stay silent. Those events in our lives that in our pain we feel have gone by us with no answer from the Lord will have a day of reckoning. Those injustices that have touched us will all have a day of vindication and Psalm 50:3-6 is a reminder of that coming day. It is a reminder to live in the light of God’s eternal justice. Too many people live casually throughout their days, never reflecting on the fact that there will be a time when both the natural and spiritual consequences of their deeds will catch up to them, a day when they will present their case before the living God and He will ask an account of them. Ps. 50:3-6 is a call from God to come into His presence and to live in the light of His eternal justice with a holy fear guarding our hearts from presumptuous actions. Draw near to God today and let Him renew your conscience so that each decision is made in the light of eternal reward and consequences!
Monday
Col 1:13 - Special Devotional on June 1st, 2009
Col 1:13 "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" NIV
Today we will pause our reflections in the psalms for a brief focus on a very important subject. As this verse points out to us there are two kingdoms contesting for the life of every man. Each person who has surrendered their life to God through faith in Christ has been rescued from the domination of Satan and his servants. We were created for freedom as Gal 5:1 says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” There was a time when every one of us who believe was a slave to both the power of sin and the power of Satan. We were under the dominion of these two forces but the cross of Christ has purchased the freedom of all who believe.
Through the victory of the cross Satan’s power was cancelled and the power of sin and death was destroyed. Col 2:13-15 victoriously proclaims, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” We have been made alive, forgiven. The power of sin has been canceled! Through that same work the evil powers and authorities that once had legal right to dominate us have been disarmed so completely that a public spectacle was made of them. The work of the cross was God’s greatest triumph! This is good news!
However, the good news is not the end of the story. We are still in a battle. While we remain on this earth as it is before the recreation of all things we are still in a place of conflict with the sin, Satan and the powers of darkness. Our deliverance is still contested by these evil forces. Each person who walks the earth with faith in Christ is living on a battlefield. There is no place of passivity. There is no place of neutrality or truce. Satan hates us and seeks to steal, kill and destroy everything that God is doing both in us and through us. We need not live in fear but we must also not live ignorant of our situation. 1 Peter 4:7-8 teaches the church “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” We are exhorted to live alert and prayerful because of the age that we live in, remembering Paul’s reminder in Eph 6:12-1 “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. 13 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.”
The church is in a great struggle for the souls of men! Satan has not merely conceded his defeat. We are called upon by the instruction of the word of God to enforce Christ’s victory. We are God’s divine representatives who carry both authority to stop the works of darkness and the power to do so as we receive the fullness of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Empowered saints with an empowered testimony, created to be God’s source of deliverance to a bound and tormented world; that is who we are. The church is the earthly expression of Christ’s eternal victory! We are called to enforce his commitment to justice and compassion as we carry the power of God into every setting where He leads us. It is time for the church to arise and walk in the victory that is ours, bringing glory to God through every soul that is transformed as we manifest the triumph of Christ over Satan’s power through the great work of preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick, casting out devils, and speaking the prophetic word of God!
Today we will pause our reflections in the psalms for a brief focus on a very important subject. As this verse points out to us there are two kingdoms contesting for the life of every man. Each person who has surrendered their life to God through faith in Christ has been rescued from the domination of Satan and his servants. We were created for freedom as Gal 5:1 says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” There was a time when every one of us who believe was a slave to both the power of sin and the power of Satan. We were under the dominion of these two forces but the cross of Christ has purchased the freedom of all who believe.
Through the victory of the cross Satan’s power was cancelled and the power of sin and death was destroyed. Col 2:13-15 victoriously proclaims, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” We have been made alive, forgiven. The power of sin has been canceled! Through that same work the evil powers and authorities that once had legal right to dominate us have been disarmed so completely that a public spectacle was made of them. The work of the cross was God’s greatest triumph! This is good news!
However, the good news is not the end of the story. We are still in a battle. While we remain on this earth as it is before the recreation of all things we are still in a place of conflict with the sin, Satan and the powers of darkness. Our deliverance is still contested by these evil forces. Each person who walks the earth with faith in Christ is living on a battlefield. There is no place of passivity. There is no place of neutrality or truce. Satan hates us and seeks to steal, kill and destroy everything that God is doing both in us and through us. We need not live in fear but we must also not live ignorant of our situation. 1 Peter 4:7-8 teaches the church “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” We are exhorted to live alert and prayerful because of the age that we live in, remembering Paul’s reminder in Eph 6:12-1 “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. 13 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.”
The church is in a great struggle for the souls of men! Satan has not merely conceded his defeat. We are called upon by the instruction of the word of God to enforce Christ’s victory. We are God’s divine representatives who carry both authority to stop the works of darkness and the power to do so as we receive the fullness of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Empowered saints with an empowered testimony, created to be God’s source of deliverance to a bound and tormented world; that is who we are. The church is the earthly expression of Christ’s eternal victory! We are called to enforce his commitment to justice and compassion as we carry the power of God into every setting where He leads us. It is time for the church to arise and walk in the victory that is ours, bringing glory to God through every soul that is transformed as we manifest the triumph of Christ over Satan’s power through the great work of preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick, casting out devils, and speaking the prophetic word of God!
Sunday
Psalm 49:20 - May 31, 2009
Ps 49:20 "A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. To but rich but foolish is a waste of wealth." NIV
Psalm 49:20 is short but direct statement about our life values. Many people spend their lives in pursuit of wealth so that they can enjoy a higher standard of living, assuming that this will make their life happier and somehow easier all the while missing the true purpose of wealth and the true source of happiness. So often our hearts become ensnared by the desire for more not realizing that we are being driven by a spirit of lust and forgetting that God prospers us for the purpose of advancing his kingdom in the earth. His desire is that we be people who understand His reasons for imparting prosperity to our lives. For the righteous He demonstrates the power of a life spent in partnership with God and for the wicked He displays that vanity and worthlessness of a self-centered lifestyle.
Eccl 5:10-11 reveals the paradox of a life spent in pursuit of money. “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.” When we have been captured by a love of wealth, though our goods increase, our hearts are constantly distracted by a longing for more. This is the nature of a self-indulgent relationship with wealth. More, more, more, our hearts find no peace as we crave the next thing that we can attain through that wealth only to find that as soon as we have it we are no longer satisfied. Pr. 15:16 contrasts the value of living in the fear of the Lord with the accumulation of great wealth as it says, “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.” It is not possessions that satisfy it is peace with God; a clear conscience
- that is the source of true happiness.
Satisfaction in life comes from God not things. And psalm 49:20 is a call to us to be people of understanding, who direct their focus in life onto the things that really matter; as Jesus said in Jn. 12:25 “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” When we live with an eternal values system that esteems the principles of God’s kingdom rather than the values of this world (Jesus said in Jn. 18:36 “my kingdom is not of this world”) our ways please the Lord. Eccl 2:26 contrasts dynamically the God given contentment that comes to those who live pleasing to God and the life of those who live by a warped set of values. “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.” When our hearts please God it is He who gives us wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but for the sinner there awaits the task of spending a life gathering earthly wealth only to see it given to the one
who pleases Him.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul gives a very pointed teaching concerning those whom the Lord has prospered, both how they should live and where they should place their trust. 1 Tim 6:17-19 says “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth , which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age.” If God has prospered you this passage provides for you good counsel for your heart. Walk in humility, hope in God not your wealth; use your abundance as a tool to do good deeds, establish for yourself eternal riches by how you serve others with your earthly riches, walk in a spirit of generosity not living in a fearful, hoarding spirit and establish your life from an eternal perspective not an earthly one. The only satisfied life is the one that is lived with eternity as our reward!
Psalm 49:20 is short but direct statement about our life values. Many people spend their lives in pursuit of wealth so that they can enjoy a higher standard of living, assuming that this will make their life happier and somehow easier all the while missing the true purpose of wealth and the true source of happiness. So often our hearts become ensnared by the desire for more not realizing that we are being driven by a spirit of lust and forgetting that God prospers us for the purpose of advancing his kingdom in the earth. His desire is that we be people who understand His reasons for imparting prosperity to our lives. For the righteous He demonstrates the power of a life spent in partnership with God and for the wicked He displays that vanity and worthlessness of a self-centered lifestyle.
Eccl 5:10-11 reveals the paradox of a life spent in pursuit of money. “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.” When we have been captured by a love of wealth, though our goods increase, our hearts are constantly distracted by a longing for more. This is the nature of a self-indulgent relationship with wealth. More, more, more, our hearts find no peace as we crave the next thing that we can attain through that wealth only to find that as soon as we have it we are no longer satisfied. Pr. 15:16 contrasts the value of living in the fear of the Lord with the accumulation of great wealth as it says, “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.” It is not possessions that satisfy it is peace with God; a clear conscience
- that is the source of true happiness.
Satisfaction in life comes from God not things. And psalm 49:20 is a call to us to be people of understanding, who direct their focus in life onto the things that really matter; as Jesus said in Jn. 12:25 “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” When we live with an eternal values system that esteems the principles of God’s kingdom rather than the values of this world (Jesus said in Jn. 18:36 “my kingdom is not of this world”) our ways please the Lord. Eccl 2:26 contrasts dynamically the God given contentment that comes to those who live pleasing to God and the life of those who live by a warped set of values. “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.” When our hearts please God it is He who gives us wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but for the sinner there awaits the task of spending a life gathering earthly wealth only to see it given to the one
who pleases Him.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul gives a very pointed teaching concerning those whom the Lord has prospered, both how they should live and where they should place their trust. 1 Tim 6:17-19 says “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth , which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age.” If God has prospered you this passage provides for you good counsel for your heart. Walk in humility, hope in God not your wealth; use your abundance as a tool to do good deeds, establish for yourself eternal riches by how you serve others with your earthly riches, walk in a spirit of generosity not living in a fearful, hoarding spirit and establish your life from an eternal perspective not an earthly one. The only satisfied life is the one that is lived with eternity as our reward!
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