A Psalm of Praise to God

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"  (Revelations 7:12)

What wisdom does God have for His children?  What lessons does He hope to instruct?  What blessings does He cover His own creations with?  What mercy does He offer His humbled children?

The foolishness of God is greater than the greatest of man’s wisdom. The instructions of God are detailed in His Holy Word. The blessings of God are far beyond our greatest dreams and hopes.  The God who created us: He is Love - love that is never ending; He is Faithful - faithfulness that lasts forever; and He is Mercy -  mercy that knows no bounds.

How can we worry, when the God who spoke the universe into being has our name written in the palm of His hands?
How can we wander, when God’s Word is a light upon our path?
How can we waste a single breath, when every creation with breath was created for praising God?

All praise and honor belong to God, every perfect and good gift is from our Heavenly Father, He showers His children with favor and grace.

The Lord our God is the Great I Am, His Majesty and Power never end, He is the Holy of Holies, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow - He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Fortress, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Immanuel, the Way, the Truth and the Life, all praise and honor and glory to Him!

Freedom

Sometimes my heart feels such an overabundance of love and a freedom that I could never explain; that I know it can only come from GOD. He is so good to His children; His Word tells us that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:8 NLT)

So many times I allow myself to be pulled away by this life and to get caught up in this world. It’s that bondage that pulls us away from God, the only time we feel free from those chains is when we can turn it all over to God. He doesn’t want us burdened or beat down, He wants us free, and free from the chains we’ve built link by link - finances, relationships, and the things of this world. GOD loved us so much that He sent His Son to save us from this world and from the burdens we choose to carry.

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. (John 8:36 NLT)

Jesus broke the chains that had held us captive; His blood was a sacrifice for us, and through Him we gained His righteousness, that we could never earn, but only by believing in Him.  

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son…” (John 3:16-18 NLT)

So bring your burdens, bring your worry, your anxiety, your fears, your pain, your hurt, your sickness to the Cross, lay them at Jesus’ feet and leave them there – never to pick them back up again.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

Jesus sacrifice wasn’t about religion, isn’t about rules or condemnation; it’s about love and a relationship. He doesn’t want our guilt, He wants our love and our service, and He wants us to show others the Love of His Father. When we reach out to others and show them the Love of GOD, GOD can use us to bless, comfort and encourage others that need the Father’s love; and right there is where we find our own freedom, blessings, mercy and grace.

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:10 AMP)

I heard a saying recently, it said, “Live your life that you need never tell anyone you’re a Christian, because the way you live your life says it louder than your words could ever shout!” That’s the life I want to live, a life that brings GOD all the honor and glory HE deserves, a life that is about my GOD and not just about me.

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36 NLT)

Write Your Blessings in Stone and Your Troubles in the Sand

You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me,

For you, O God, are my fortress.

In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me.

He will let me look down in triumph on all my enemies.

But as for me, I will sing about your power.

Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.

For you have been my refuge,

A place of safety when I am in distress.

O my Strength, to you I sing praises,

For you, O God, are my refuge,

The God who shows me unfailing love.

(Psalm 59: 9-10, 15-16 NLT)

What I enjoy about this Psalm so much, is that even though David is trapped and surrounded by his enemies, he doesn’t dwell on his circumstances. David chose to praise GOD and sing of GOD’s love and acknowledge that GOD is the one who protects him and that he doesn't need to worry.

How often do we need to have that mindset? The famous saying, ‘Don’t tell GOD how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your GOD is’ is perfect for this Psalm. David was surrounded by Saul’s men and they were waiting to kill David, David was trapped, no way out, but he didn’t focus on that; no he focused on his GOD. He sang of the strength of HIS fortress, he sang of the safety of GOD’s refuge, he sang of GOD’s unfailing love.

“The trials of his people will end in joy and praise. When the night of affliction is over, they will sing of the Lord's power and mercy in the morning. Let believers now, in assured faith and hope, praise Him for those mercies, for which they will rejoice and praise him forever.”  (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)

I know it’s sometimes easier said than done, focusing on the good instead of the bad. That’s why  this Christian life consists of renewing our minds. 

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NLT)

We had so many years to learn the world’s way of doing things; the world tells people to complain about what’s wrong instead of focusing on what isn't wrong.  Renewing our mind is a one day at a time task, it will take time and it’s something we’ll be doing until we meet Jesus, but each day we can become better at renewing our mind than we were the day before!

The battle begins with our mind, our mind is where thoughts of the enemy are whispered, our mind is the battlefield. We need to daily work on renewing our mind, so we can prevent the enemy from gaining a foothold. The key to renewing our mind is getting GOD's Word into us. GOD's Word is HIS way, not our way; GOD's Word tells us how we ought to think, say and do; it's the instruction manual for our walk with GOD. When we’ve allowed our mind to be renewed and transformed into the way of GOD and not of the world, we will stand out, we will seem different to the world.

    “You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

     We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

     We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-9 NLT)

With our fragile and broken clay jars, the light (Jesus’ love) that is within us, will shine through the cracks of our imperfections but illuminate the love of Jesus to those around us.   When the world is living in such darkness, the world can’t help but be drawn to the light! We will stand out;  use the light you’ve been given to draw others to break out of the darkness they are living in.

When we become new creations in Christ, our lives change, we are not the same. We cannot go back to the way we were before, we have to leave the old and renew the mind with the ways of GOD. We can’t go back to despair and emptiness and living in a world so filled with darkness. When we are in Christ, we will have troubles, but we must not focus on those troubles, our focus has to be on GOD. If we stay focused on GOD we will see HIS strength, HIS fortress, HIS mercies, HIS grace, HIS love and then those troubles will seem less and less because of where our focus is; on the GOD who created the Heavens and the Earth, who gave us life, who sent HIS Son so that we would have life and have an abundance ~ that is where our focus needs to be. 

If you'd like to know more about this topic, I found this resource while searching the scriptures for renewing the mind on the 'Christ in You Ministries' website.

Fired Up

Are you a believer? Are you a child of God, bought and purchased by the blood of Christ? Are you redeemed and have received salvation through grace and not by the law or good works? If so, then you know you are under the new covenant (blood of Christ) and not the old covenant (Old Testament laws). 

I recently entered a ‘conversation’ that revolved around people who are Believers, but who have chosen to judge or condemn others based on laws of the OT (specifically Leviticus). Laws in Leviticus were very specific on rituals to perform after childbirth, what was allowed to be eaten, and offering sacrifices on an altar, etc. The problem with trying to uphold any of these laws, they must realize they are now selecting to ‘overlook’ Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross!  Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”   (Matthew 22:34-40 NIV) 

If we love GOD first and then love our neighbor next, we will never fall out of GOD’s will for our lives. When you are loving; you are not judging, you are not hating, you are not coveting, you are not sinning. When you are busy loving GOD and others, you don’t have time for all the stuff we shouldn’t be doing. Where our focus is, where our thoughts are, that’s where our heart is. So if we focus on GOD, if we are thinking of HIM and others before ourselves, our heart will follow; thus our words and actions will follow.

Religion is a cold and ritualistic burden, that is why I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.“Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”….”Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’” Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ (Matthew 16:6, 11-12 NLT) The term yeast was often used in the Bible as an evil connotation, as to what is small, may corrupt the whole. We see that a lot today in terms of laws being created based on minority beliefs and not on the majority's. 

Salvation is not based on rules and regulations; salvation is through grace. Faith cannot be seen and when our relationship with GOD is based on laws, we start to fall into the trap of the Pharisees. Agape love is selfless love (without a personal agenda and what can I get out of this attitude). Law is restrictive and binding, law sees right and wrong and doesn’t have room for love - but JESUS said that LOVE is to be first! Sin is a flesh and worldly desire. Repentance is a heart movement, if a believer sins, they will know they have sinned and they will ‘ache’ in the spirit and want to right their wrong; you can't have repentance if you don't have love. 

One thing that we see in the New Testament that angered JESUS, was the burden the Pharisees were putting on man. JESUS came to earth to save the people, not to burden or condemn them. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either……. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.  Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:13-15, 23-28 NLT)

Our heart is what GOD is concerned with, our heart for GOD! First we must concentrate on the inside, the heart and when the heart is right with GOD, the outside will change to be more like GOD as well!

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.  As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”  “No, Lord,” she said.  And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11 NLT)

Here is another example from Jesus that specifically instructs us NOT to judge others….

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?   You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:1-6 NIV)

How can we love others and lead them to Christ if we are condemning them? How can we share GOD’s love when we are burdening people with laws and regulations? I’m not saying go against the Bible; I’m saying we cannot share GOD’s love if we are judging. We are to open our arms and share love; if someone is sinning, GOD will speak to that Believer and deal with them. I’m not saying you should encourage a Believer to sin or even turn a blind eye (I am not talking about sins that HARMS a person). Think prejudice, people have thoughts on piercings, tattoos and both of those are tied into OT Leviticus laws and have nothing to do with modern day tattoos and piercings, but yet people are so fired up over these issues that they are allowing the yeast of the Pharisees to hardened their hearts and cast judgement.

People are getting riled up about the wrong stuff, that have nothing to do with the heart of GOD. Doctrines are being preached that are against the Word of GOD, people are claiming to be christian believers and are preaching hate instead of LOVE! These are the kind of things that people should be riled up about, these are the things that will lead a non-believer away from JESUS, or turn a Believer away from GOD. I can only imagine the tears in heaven over the division in the church and what she has become. As Believers, we are the church, we need to show the world that we are LOVE!! We need to be fired up for GOD and fired up for showing GOD's love for others!!

Revelation's Love Command

Revelation 2:4

But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!

If you read this chapter, you’ll see that this was one of the letters written to the seven churches, the heading to this chapter is ‘The Loveless Church’. I believe this ‘Loveless Church’ was mentioned first, because love is so important and when you have love, everything else will fall into place. As believers of Christ, we are the body of Christ, we are the church. Church is not meant to be a religious routine without emotion, church is the coming together of believers to worship GOD, to give HIM all the honor and glory HE deserves, the message the Pastor (Preacher, Priest) brings is to strengthen, encourage, grow our knowledge, and give us understanding of GOD’s word.

There is only one warning with love, do not love the world, do not love the ‘things’ of this world, do not put them above others. Do not compare your church with other churches, by who has the larger building, which has the larger sanctuary or attendance. Do not fall into the trap of comparing.  ”Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.” (1 John 2:15-16) There is nothing wrong with gaining possessions; the problem is when your possessions possess you.  We have to remain faithful to GOD, loving HIM and giving to HIM and others. As long as our stuff doesn’t become the center of who we believe we are. GOD wants to bless us, HE wants us to not have any wants, this doesn’t require us to be poor (why we would be called upon to help the poor if HE wanted us poor), and as long as our first want is to please and serve GOD, we are in the right place with our hearts for GOD.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” (John 15:9-12) Jesus showed us how important love was, by being the example of love. Jesus went on to say in the next verse the example of that ultimate love, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) This command was so important, Jesus repeated it again in verse 17, “This is my command: Love each other”.

“We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters” 1 John 4:19-21 If we love one another, we are fulfilling all of GOD’s commands, because we cannot sin against a person if we love them. It’s easy to love our friends and families, but it’s completely difficult to love our enemies and those who just get on our nerves.

If we are struggling with loving others, ask GOD to help you love others, ask GOD to enlarge your heart, give you compassion and understanding. We are called to love all, because Jesus died for ALL, not just the people we like.  “Owe nothing to anyone –except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These- and other such commandments- are summed up in this one commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.” Romans 13:8-10

So now that we know that we are to love others and not this world, we need to know what love really is. “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

If you are struggling with this, ask GOD for help, HE is faithful and will answer your request. Remember we are the church, we are to share the Good News and share Christ’s love.  “I also tell you this: if two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.For where tow or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:19-20

Love

1 Peter 4:8

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

To understand the depth of this ‘deep love’ this verse is referring to, we need to look at the different types of love that was translated from the ancient Greek.

The first ‘love’ recorded in the Bible Genesis 22:2 in reference to Abraham loving his son Isaac. This ‘love’ was the original word, ‘ahab’ (in the Greek).  It’s defined as a love for God, loving one’s friends, romantic love, love of ideals, love of pleasures, and so on. The participal form, ‘oheb’, refers to a friend or lover.

The next type of ‘love’ used in the Bible, is from the Greek, ‘phileo’, which means: to be fond of, care for affectionately, cherish, take pleasure in, have personal attachment for.  

Then finally there is ‘agape’ form of ‘love’. Which according to the Greek, it was rarely used outside of the New Testament, in that time period. Agape denotes an undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable goodwill that always seeks the highest good of the other person, no matter what he/she does. It is the self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return, and does not consider the worth of its object. Agape is more of a love by choice than ‘philos’, which is love by chance; and it refers to the will rather than the emotion. Agape describes the unconditional love GOD has for the world.  

Interestingly, my Bible refers that when Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, and Peter replied that he did love Jesus, it was with the phileo form of ‘love' that Peter replied with (see John 21:15). But once the Holy Spirit imparted to him the fuller understanding of agape love, Peter used the agape (or agapao) words nine times in his writings. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of GOD has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5). 

The next word study is for ‘cover’, to cover is a Hebrew idiom meaning “forgive” or “overlook”. Hatred stirs up contentions, but love covers all transgressions. (Proverbs 10:12 AMP) As Christians, we should understand this use of ‘cover’ more than unbelievers. When Jesus hung on the cross, he did that to ‘cover’ our sins, a debt we cannot repay. You have forgiven and taken away the iniquity of Your people, You have covered all their sin. Psalm 85:2 BLESSED (Happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1

It is just as important for us to forgive others, as it was for Jesus to forgive us, that is why when Jesus taught the disciples how they should pray, he taught them that before we can ask for forgiveness of our sins (transgressions) we have to forgive others of their sins against us (see Matthew 6:9-15) “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

Love and forgiveness, they go hand in hand, we truly learn what love is when we understand that “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life “ (John 3:16). By GOD’s love for us we can understand the covering of our sins by the blood of Jesus; we were washed as white as snow (see Psalm 51:7) and HE has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). 

We cannot have a comprehension of this Godly love ‘agape’ until we’ve been saved and received the Holy Spirit. And without the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of ‘agape’ love ourselves.  As in yesterday’s blog, I wrote that we must ‘walk the talk', do more than just tell others we are Christians, we must show we are. One of the best ways to show the love of Christ in us is by giving our loving (grace) and forgiveness (mercy) to others (bestowing grace [love when its not deserved] and giving mercy [not getting what is deserved]) we are following Jesus' example.  Our whole purpose as believers is to lead others to Christ (to shine our light in a world full of darkness, be a city on a hill). From the very beginning our world was created because of LOVE, our lives were formed out of LOVE and our sins were forgiven (covered) because of LOVE!