Come: Psalm 9:1-2: "I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will TELL of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
Hear: David was never ashamed to give credit (praise) to God for any number of things. He makes a bold declaration and is not intimidated by lack of Godly respect and honor from those around him. He is so happy with God and in God that nothing else matters!
Do: There's a real and intentional push in the world today for believers to shut their mouths and keep it to themselves. This is, make no mistake, a tactic of Satan himself. The Gospel is VERBAL. Faith comes by HEARING (Rom. 10:17). It must must must be spoken (2 Cor. 4:13). Satan realizes that if he can get Christians to cease "putting it out there" then he's won untold billions of people because the Church (that's you) is silent. David would say, "NO!" (Ps. 34:1) Jesus said that if He commanded those who praised Him to be silent (at the request of the hard-hearted, unbelieving Pharisees) on that Palm Sunday, that the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:37-40). We must give God more credit in our daily affairs. When speaking of something that blessed us, we must say things like, "Yes, I'm just so thankful to God for getting me that job. God's good like that, you know?!" Will it make some people uncomfortable? Yep! Is that ok? Yes, indeed. We go way to far out of our way in the country to make sure that no one is ever offended (even if they are unreasonably looking for ways TO be offended). Jesus said, "blessed is He who is not offended at Me." (Mt. 11:6) Did Jesus offend? Yes. (Mt. 13:57; 15:12) Those who were not offended at Him experienced the fullness of His salvation and a new power residing in their lives to shake off the temporary comforts of this world for a weight of eternal glory! (John 1:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:17)
Prayer: Let me never, never, NEVER be ashamed to speak Your praise, O my God. You have been so incredibly good to us and I must never be poor in my praise, in my worship, in my expressions of gratitude to my great God and Savior!.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Handle Your Business
Come: 1 Kings 2:1-2; 9: Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man…. Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him; but bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”
Hear: David is speaking his final words and he is advising Solomon as to current and lingering issues regarding the Kingdom. He recounts some unfinished business; business that he was unwilling to handle on his own watch. David, for all his faithfulness and zeal for God, was one who let some things go unhandled, most especially when it related to personal relationships. He did not handle the issue of his own wife, which led to Bathsheba/Uriah and the death of a son of David. He did not handle the issue with Tamar being raped and that produced a problem with Absalom. He did not handle the issue with Adonijah trying to ascend the throne without proper authorization. In many times of David’s life he let things go under the heading of “mercy” or “humility.” For instance, when he was leaving the city, fleeing from another problem with Absalom, a man met him on the way and cursed him with great vigor. David did not take appropriate action with that man at that time and so it is left to Solomon to defend his father’s honor, the honor of the kingship by not allowing a citizen under this monarchy to speak so insolently to the king of Israel. Joab executed some men of renown with prejudice and David never dealt with Joab’s inpropriety; it was left to Solomon.
Do: Handle your business. Do not let it go unaddressed. This does not mean to handle it right away or in the heat of passion. Consider it before the Lord, but ACT. Remember David’s command to Solomon: “be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man”. Do not sin in your own heart, a “feeling sorry for yourself” emotional state or fear cause you to draw back from handling people business. Collect yourself. Present yourself and your case before the Lord. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Act according to what you heard and the principles set forth in God’s Word.
Prayer: Lord may I not be slothful in handling the issues that are before me. Let me be found faithful in every aspect of life. Help me be just and equitable, always with a heart of love for people, but decisive and resolute nonetheless. Forgive me for times when I have fallen short and flat out blown it. Give me Your wisdom to discern the battle that it may bring profit to all in Your Name.
Hear: David is speaking his final words and he is advising Solomon as to current and lingering issues regarding the Kingdom. He recounts some unfinished business; business that he was unwilling to handle on his own watch. David, for all his faithfulness and zeal for God, was one who let some things go unhandled, most especially when it related to personal relationships. He did not handle the issue of his own wife, which led to Bathsheba/Uriah and the death of a son of David. He did not handle the issue with Tamar being raped and that produced a problem with Absalom. He did not handle the issue with Adonijah trying to ascend the throne without proper authorization. In many times of David’s life he let things go under the heading of “mercy” or “humility.” For instance, when he was leaving the city, fleeing from another problem with Absalom, a man met him on the way and cursed him with great vigor. David did not take appropriate action with that man at that time and so it is left to Solomon to defend his father’s honor, the honor of the kingship by not allowing a citizen under this monarchy to speak so insolently to the king of Israel. Joab executed some men of renown with prejudice and David never dealt with Joab’s inpropriety; it was left to Solomon.
Do: Handle your business. Do not let it go unaddressed. This does not mean to handle it right away or in the heat of passion. Consider it before the Lord, but ACT. Remember David’s command to Solomon: “be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man”. Do not sin in your own heart, a “feeling sorry for yourself” emotional state or fear cause you to draw back from handling people business. Collect yourself. Present yourself and your case before the Lord. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Act according to what you heard and the principles set forth in God’s Word.
Prayer: Lord may I not be slothful in handling the issues that are before me. Let me be found faithful in every aspect of life. Help me be just and equitable, always with a heart of love for people, but decisive and resolute nonetheless. Forgive me for times when I have fallen short and flat out blown it. Give me Your wisdom to discern the battle that it may bring profit to all in Your Name.
Friday, July 6, 2012
An Evil Heart Defined
COME: Hebrews 3:6b, 12-14; 19: "... but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end... (12) Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end... (19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
HEAR: Notice the holding fast of confidence and rejoicing of hope FIRM to the end. This is faith. Faith is believing God. But that term, "believing God" is too ambiguous. Let's dig deeper. Believing God is believing, having unwavering confidence in what He said. All we know about God is what He said about Himself in His Word. All other data about God is subject to error.
DO: So, believing God is believing what He said, which is to be found in His Word, the Bible. This "believing" is the proof that we are in Christ's "house." Note He also says that it is a confession. Homo-logeo in Greek. Homo = same. Logeo - Word. The Same Word. We say the same thing God says. In other words, my words to not waver or depart the content of God's Words.
I MUST speak what God speaks. I must believe what God said. I must hold this confession FIRM to the end.
Notice that the definition of an evil heart is defined as UNBELIEF. Note the effect of unbelief: "departing from the Living God." Is it any wonder that Satan's first tactic with Eve was to question what God said? He's been using that trick for 6000 years. He doesn't even need another trick because that one is still as effective today on humanity as it was back then!
Then, a sad reality: "So, we see they could not enter in because of unbelief." Remember, it's not just about believing there is a God and He's good and all that other ethereal data. No. This is about believing what God said and that confession... that fact... produced the price of admission into the Promised Land. Remember again, this passage is directly tied to the Book of Numbers where millions of Israelites refused to believe what God SAID and they all died in the wilderness (save two).
Refusing to believe what God said (steadfastly, to the end vv.6, 14) will cost us every blessing and ultimately could cause us to be shut out of Heaven itself. Recall what Jesus said to Jairus when someone told him it was all over and to give up: "Do NOT be afraid. ONLY BELIEVE." Jesus spoke about believing a lot!
Make no mistake: an evil heart is one that doubts what God said. As "believers" we are expected to hold fast our confession of faith, steadfast and firm to the end." What is the end? The fulfillment of the promises of God... ALL OF THEM. And guess what the Bible says about the promises of God?
1 Cor. 1:20: For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
Prayer: Today God, let my words be Your Words. Let my speech match Yours. Instead of having an evil heart of unbelief that departs, let an evil heart in me depart! Create in me a clean heart, O God! Let it live and breath and rejoice in the firm, sure and abundant promises that You said! You delight to fulfill Your Word to me. So today I say, "Yes and Amen" to Your every word. Let Your words always be steadfast and firm to the end in me! Amen!
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