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Psalm 16:1,2

Psalm 16

“Keep me safe, O God,” [You can  do this so easily, Lord Jesus, my Good Shepherd, for you are incredibly powerful, deeply wise, completely all-knowing, totally all-seeing, passionately loving and whole-heartedly compassionate.  I can cry out to you, know that you will hear, know that you will answer in the best way. Praise be to you.]

“for in you I take refuge.” [This is my part, coming to you, meditating on Scripture, thinking Truth, trusting, praising before any answer comes.  Prayer without trust and obedience does not “work.”  As always, it is a partnership between you, Lord, and your children.  I praise you for how you call us to join you in what you will do, making us responsible.]

Psa 16:2  “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord;’” [This is a statement of surrender—you are my Adonai, my Authority, the One I obey, the One who has the right to demand absolute obedience while promising absolute provision.  What you command I must do and will do.]

“apart from you I have no good thing.” [This is a full focus on Truth—only you are truly Good; all else that I have is chaff, temporary, worthless in the long run.  This is an echo of Asaph’s declaration, “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you!” (Psalm 73.)  To live this Truth is freeing, is powerful, is focusing: “apart from YOU I have no good thing!”  All else must be viewed in relation to you, each one being elements for stewardship, tools, means of obeying and glorifying you.  It is in you that all comes together.

Praise be to you, Lord God, Heavenly Father, King Jesus, Holy Spirit, for you are the reason for existence, the focal point of life, the eternal and infinite God. I bow down before you, praise you, love you, glory in you, honor you, exalt your name and your Word, rejoice in you, revel in you, obey you for your honor.  May you be exalted in my life today.

More on Psalm 16 >

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The Lord of Light

Psalm 103:1-5 “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

We celebrate your resurrection, Lord Jesus, your triumph over evil, the breaking of the bonds of sin, the defeat of the dominion of darkness, the plundering of the prince of demons and the forces of destruction.  You, Lord Jesus, who are light itself, shone out of darkness, over darkness, through darkness, defeating it, destroying its power, its borders, its rule over the entrapped millions of miserable subjects.

You opened the door of the prison, framed it in light, set up a sign, and sent an invitation to each prisoner, a card of enlightenment: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (John 1:8). And you send it by the “messenger of light,” the Holy Spirit who “convicts the world of guilt because of sin, righteousness and judgment.” (John 16:8) Those who accept it get more light, leading them to the door and out into the freedom of the Eternal, Gracious King.

You, King Jesus, the mighty Ruler, the powerful administer of the Kingdom of light where blessings flow all the time. You are the One who is to be praised! Therefore, without reservation, with every part of my being I praise you, Lord God, for you are worthy of total submission, absolute surrender and whole-hearted service: you are totally good, totally holy, totally pure.

Every part of me rejoices in you, exults in you, exalts you, extols you: my mind, my will, my emotions, my spirit, my body, for You are worthy.  May you be honored and glorified in my life today, may your praises constantly spill from my heat, my thoughts, my tongue.

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Thoughts on Psalm 15

Psalm 15

“LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?” [Praise be to you, Lord God, the High and Holy One, for you invite us to your sanctuary, to live with you on your holy hill. This is another wonderful demonstration of your great love, grace and goodness, your pure and positive character at work in the midst of a sinful, twisted and destructive world. Each of the following conditions for living in close relationship with you are unreachable for us; our sinful flesh prevents this, even when our spirit is willing.  But you, Lord God, in your rich, powerful, active agape love have, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, provided these qualities for all who believe. You have imputed them to us and have made us qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light! This is against all logic, all normal justice, human reasoning and heavenly expectations of angels.  This is marvelous. It is your loving, lovely, lustrous character at work in mysterious and wonderful ways, moving us from hopelessness to certainty of grace.  I praise you for this great and transforming truth of your total commitment to save all who are willing. The following qualities are therefore a description of the Lord Jesus.]

Psa 15:2  “He whose walk is blameless”  [I praise you, Lord Jesus, that in you there is no sin, no evil, no slipping into error, no darkness, no injustice or rebellion; you are without blame, without accusation, without sin. Praise you for your perfection, your purity, your pristineness, that you are the paragon of all virtues. You are worthy of worship and glory.”]

“and who does what is righteous,” [All you do is righteous, Lord Jesus, there is no error in your ways, no wrong, no fault, no blame.  So you are absolutely trustable, believable, faithful and good.]

“who speaks the truth from his heart” [You are Truth itself and therefore speak only Truth from the center of your being.  All you say is true, right, correct, trustable and good.]

Psa 15:3  “and has no slander on his tongue,” [When you accuse, it is correct, it is spoken to the right person with the right motive. There is no malice, selfishness, evil motive or wrong desire when you speak. Instead you speak to convict, heal, lead, giving light, love and healing.]

“who does his neighbor no wrong” [You only do what is right, pure, helpful, good and positive.  To live with you is the exist in the light of goodness, purity and positiveness.]

“and casts no slur on his fellowman,” [You do not accuse unjustly, or speak to put people in a bad light, or speak what is untrue about a person.  As you live in the light, so you shine the light on what is true.]

Psa 15:4  “who despises a vile man” [You see all in the light, nothing is hidden from you, so you know what is sin and rightly reject it.  In righteousness you despise what is unrighteous.]

“but honors those who fear the LORD,” [You honor what is right and good, and are able to discern what really motivates a man: fear of people or fear of God.  And you give glory and honor to those who walk in your ways because they love you.]

“who keeps his oath even when it hurts,” [You are the One who always keeps your Word—you kept your Word to provide a Savior who could only redeem through intense, infinite suffering, and you, Lord Jesus, followed through by doing all that was necessary. Praise you for your faithfulness.]

Psa 15:5  “who lends his money without usury”[You are generous and good, pouring out your riches on us without thought of profit.]

“and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.” [You are absolutely just, know what is true and do only what is right.  A bribe has no influence on you to change your mind, but influences you to respond in justice.  Praise be to you for your goodness and purity.  Praise be to you, period.]

He who does these things
will never be shaken.” [Seeing these qualities in you gives me the desire to live that way, to be that way too,  to live in the light of your lovliness.  Heavenly Father, help me to be an imitator of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. Transform me more everyday that I may live for you.]

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Three Things that Should be Growing in Our Lives, Part 4

< Part 3

We can cooperate with God in having a personal revival in a number of ways.  I will mention only three main ones here.

The first is what we’ve already discussed: by nurturing our first love for Jesus, especially by personal worship using Scripture—that will bring further revelation of His glory as the Spirit uses the Word in our lives.  The Spirit will than use the light of God’s glory to expose of our sin and sins, just as He did with Isaiah; He will then bring a deepening grasp of how much we are forgiven and loved in the Lord Jesus.

Second is simply asking God for a revival in our lives. Ask for it every day.  Since that’s what God wants, He is going to answer.  However, we need to be committed to this, for it can be painful as He begins to strip away the layers of our “goodness” and shows us what lies underneath.

Personally I began asking God for a revival several years ago, and He began answering by giving me an illness—I spent five days in bed, so weak I could only pray.  During this time the Lord showed me 9 different sins He wanted me to deal with more severely.  Among them were laziness, lust, negative thinking/speaking, selfishness, fear of man, worry, fear and jealousy.

It was painful to see how much of a role these played in my life, but as I embraced this revelation and committed myself to dealing more severely with these in the Spirit’s power, obeying what I knew to be true, there was definite movement forward. [there is a more complete explanation of this in my book Knowing Jesus is Enough for Joy, Period! available at www.edifyinservices .com]

As one example, I began to wholeheartedly edit out the negative comments that came to my mind—and there were a lot of them, like, “look at that ugly house, who’d ever want to live there?!!” or “What was she thinking when she bought that dress, it looks awful!”  After a couple of months my wife commented that I wasn’t talking to her as much as I used to. “Yes,” I said, “I’m cutting out about 50% of what I’d like to say because it’s negative and judgmental!”

I found that saying those judgmental things had brought a burden and darkness in my life.  Now things were lighter and I had more time to think and speak positive, edifying things, plus found myself more alert to the Spirit’s guidance.

As I walked in obedience to what I knew of my sin, the Holy Spirit began to point out other sins I needed to confess and forsake.  He brought them to my notice one at a time, so I learned to pay attention to the “next sin to be dealt with.”  The Spirit begins by convicting us gently of a sin, but if we don’t pay attention, He will lovingly bring increasing pressure.  It’s much better to listen carefully and respond early.

The third thing we can do to nurture revival is to “confess ahead.”  That is confess our tendency to sin before we sin.  I have a list of the sins the Spirit has shown me in my personal revival; it has grown from nine to forty-one!  And  remembering the Apostle Paul’s example, I’m sure there’s more to come.

I will take a portion of that list during confession in my quiet time and pray like this, “Lord, you know my tendency to worry, help me instead to flee to you, to praise you and trust you.  You know my tendency to complain, help me instead to praise.  You know my tendency to speak negative, critical thoughts, help me to spot those right off, reject them and to think and speak edifying things to people.”

As I continue to practice these three disciplines (nurturing my first love for Jesus, asking for revival, and confessing ahead), God is answering and moving me on. There is an upward progression each day, a deepening understanding of God’s holiness, my depravity and how much He loves and forgives me.  The black velvet of my sin accents the beautiful diamond of God’s character, sparkling in love, forgiveness and acceptance for all who come.  Without the backdrop of knowing my sin, I could not appreciate or understand the wonderfulness of being forgiven, and how much it cost Jesus to buy it.

As I stand in the light of His presence in worship, accepting His revelation of His goodness and my need for forgiveness, the revival spirals on upward, bringing new insights, new joys and a deeper walk with Him.

Part 5 >

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Three Things that Should be Growing in Our Lives, Part 3

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Having an ongoing revival in my life.

The first step is to ask, “What is a revival?”

The three aspects of a revival are seen in Isaiah 6::2-7

First Isaiah saw the Lord’s glory: “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings….they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”

Second, in the overwhelming presence of God’s glory Isaiah became very aware of his sinfulness. “’Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”

Third, God communicated how fully Isaiah’s sin was forgiven and how he was accepted by God. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ’See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’” Isaiah 6:2-7

Revival, I believe it is a quickening of spiritual life and passion that flows from these three ongoing, ever deepening revelations: God’s holiness, our sinfulness and His forgiveness. The Apostle Paul, experienced this continued growth in his understanding of his sinfulness in the light of God’s holiness.  In Paul’s earlier writings he called himself “the least of the Apostles.” (1 Cor. 15:9)  Near the end of his life he called himself “the chief of sinners.” (1 Tim 1:15)   This  continual deepening is what should be happening in our lives.

In the next entry we’ll look at how to nurture such growth.

Read Part 4 >

 

 

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Three Things that Should be Growing in Our Lives, Part 2

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Nurturing your first love for Jesus.

Rev. 2:1-7, Christ’s letter to the church at Ephesus takes us to the core of this topic.  Jesus lists out 9 positive qualities of the Ephesian believers and commends them for them.  Reviewing that list, I would say this was a very healthy congregation.

However, Jesus adds, “Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love.”  Is that so important, a little loss of passion?  To God it is VERY important: Jesus continues, “Repent!”  Forsaking (leaving) our first love for Jesus is a sin!  In fact it is so serious that it cancels out all the other good we can do. Often we forsake our first love for Jesus because our work, or our ministry, or our family, or sports become the object of our first love.

Jesus goes on to say, “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”  This means the church will go out of existence—and that is what happened to the church in Ephesus. Forsaking our first love makes us useless for God’s Kingdom.

For God, our first love for Christ is a critical factor: most everything else flows from it.  It is the spring of good motives, of humility, of obedience, of proper good works, of growth and spiritual power.

So, what can you do to nurture your first love for Jesus?  It has to be an intentional pursuit, for it is not something that happens by itself.  Just as un-nurtured love in a marriage withers, so does our love for Jesus when we neglect Him. There are many things we can do to nurture it; I will mention the three most effective ones in my life.

First is personal worship: praising God for who He is without focusing on how His qualities benefit me.  The Lord Jesus is endless in His beauty, greatness, wisdom, power and love.  If we take a Psalm each day and exalt Him for the qualities we see there, it will stoke the fire of our first love for Him. For instance, take Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.”  I would use this for worship in this way, “Praise be to you, Lord God, that in you there is no wickedness, you can never be tempted to walk in wicked counsel, for you cannot sin, you hate evil and all you do is good.  You are the God worthy of worship in your holiness!”

Second is what I call “basking in the love of Jesus:” repeating to myself the wonder of being God’s child.  By nature all I deserve is condemnation, suffering, pain, failure, death, hell and eternal separation from God (Rom. 7:18, Eph 2:1-3).  In spite of this, and against all logic, He chose me, called me, cleansed me, claimed me as his son, and commissioned me to special service (Eph 1:3-10, Col. 3:12). Now I stand before Him dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in!  This is true for every true follower of Christ. If that doesn’t stir your soul, nothing will.  I willfully let myself feel both sides of that truth, the despair of what I deserve and the wonder of the Creator of the universe being excited to have me as His son!  That causes my love for Him to bloom!  I find it has also brought a deep, profound emotional stability to my life.

Third is praising Him in and for all things–especially for things that naturally I would be upset about.  To do so is a statement of faith: my God is good, He is wise, He has allowed this happening in wisdom, love and grace. (Psalm 50:23, 1 Thes. 5:18)  In it I can give Him glory. Through it I can demonstrate grace to those around me. From it I can grow in faith and obedience.  Such praise lifts my eyes and thoughts from natural seeing and thinking to the Truth: supernatural, spiritual and supreme.

Try these and sense the burgeoning, beautiful growth of your first love for Jesus.  Truly, Knowing Jesus is Enough for Joy, Period—if we choose to live that truth. Be intentional. Be committed. Be wise.  Live like a child of the King, the prince or princess you are!

Outcome of nurturing first love for Christ.

Here is a reliable story, gotten directly from the source, not an internet rumor. This past week a friend’s acquaintance in South Africa took out his garbage one afternoon and was attacked by two masked men.  He was forced into his house, robbed and then stabbed to death.  His wife was also stabbed and left unconscious.  When her pastor visited her in the hospital, he wanted to reach out and comfort her but she showed how God had already covered her with His grace, telling the pastor, “This is a case to believe Romans 8:28.  Our God will work this out for good!”  Now there is a woman who had nurtured her first love for Jesus!  How about us?

Read Part 3 >

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Three Things That Should Be Growing in Our Lives Part 1

There are three significant things we should be praying and working towards in our lives, cooperating with the Holy Spirit in seeing them develop.

The initial one is a continual nurturing of our first love for Jesus.  This is the most important one, as from it will flow the other two.  This is what Jesus said he wanted from the church at Ephesus.  He complimented them for their positive points, but said without nurturing their first love, the rest were worthless.

Second is an ongoing, daily revival.  Revival is what will come out of an ever deepening first love, for in our close walk with Jesus, we will daily see more of His holiness, more of our sinfulness (our innate depravity) and more of how much He has forgiven and loves us. This is what Isaiah experienced in chapter 6. The result brought an “undoing” so God could “redo” him and prepare Isaiah for a life long very tough ministry.  So God wants to “undo” us, sometimes in a great crisis or revelation, but more often a little bit each day.  He calls us to cooperate with Him in this venture.

Third is a continual shift of our world view.  As we have renewal of our first love, and an ongoing revival, we are going to be seeing more and more points where the Word clashes with the worldview we grew up with. We will be called upon to choose: will we live the comfortable, self-protective, self-indulgent way of our culture, or will we step out to deny self, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus?

In following entries we’ll look more in depth at these three aspects of our walk with God.

Part 2 >

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Praying Psalm 86:5, 15

“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You….You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”

Work in us that we may be like you, Lord God:

“good” (may we spot and reject our sinful tendencies);

“ready to forgive” (may we be as forgiving as you have been towards us);

“full of mercy” (may we be kind and positive to all around us).

“full of compassion” (may we thinking good of each other, seeking each other’s best, truly caring for each other);

“gracious” (may we be giving and giving again, helping, thinking of how to support each     other, blessing and valuing each other);

“long suffering, slow to anger” (may we set our hearts on things above, not on the passing things of earth, giving up our little, personal, petty goals, letting go of what is temporal, holding on to what is eternal);

“plenteous in mercy and truth” (may we have that balance of speaking truth with great mercy, keeping these in wonderful balance, in good intent, good method, good words, good attitudes).

May you be glorified in our lives today as we live this way in your grace and power. Amen

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Jesus, the Ender of Oppression, Psalm 146:7

Praise be to you, Lord God, King of Creation, for your great and gracious heart. Praise you that you look down and see every single person on this earth: each one’s needs, desires, suffering, rebellion and anger.  I praise you that you work in the life of each one to supply their needs (Matt 5:45), to bring them help, to bring them into your Kingdom (John 16:8-10).

Psa 146:7  “He upholds the cause of the oppressed” [You went right to the core of the problem, Lord Jesus, providing rescue from the oppression of Satan, of sin and of self—all other oppression oozes out of these three. Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for paying the price of great, deep, profound, excruciating suffering to provide the only escape from this oppression.  Praise you that you give grace, guidance and goodness to your children in the midst of every oppression so we can rise above it.]

“and gives food to the hungry.” [You are the One who provides our daily bread, you give enough to live on–although people often squander it, or withhold it from others.  We praise you that you are not like that but give to all.]
“The LORD sets prisoners free,” [We are all bound by aspects of sin: the web of Satan that has snared us in its sticky strands. Just being born into a broken and twisted world results in quirks and twists in our personalities that bring problems, difficulties and oppression. Our upbringing and family culture in a sinful world built dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and desires into our being.  Our worldview and its internalized values ensnare us in destructive feelings, desires and goals.  All these produce emotional traps, giving false answers to the great and proper thirst for approval, for significance, for belonging, for security. They then produce fear: fear of man, fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of pain, loss and hurt.  Satan uses all these to oppress, control and in the end to kill all he can.

But You, Lord Jesus, have opened the door to the prison of the devil, you have called us to step out of the place of oppression into the light of your Love, into the rich relationship where our fears can be washed away in the river of your goodness and grace and glory.  In you we belong, we have significance, we have security, we have approval.  In you there is the certainty of your shepherding us through every valley of life into the wonder of your everlasting dwelling in heaven.

You have provided all that is needed in order to set us free.  You are worthy of great honor, praise and exaltation, of obedience, glory and thanksgiving.  I lift you up, praise your Name and exalt your Word above all things.

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Victim, Victor or Vector? Part 3

Vector

God intervened to help Joseph make the leap from victor to vector by leading him into the next level of learning. As Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison, he began the transition to becoming one who points others to God.  First Joseph implemented what he had previously learned and refused to revert to being a victim. He was still pleasant, responsible, hardworking and thoughtful.  Who else in such a situation would be concerned for the happiness of his fellow prisoners?

Second, he was beginning to see that God was the One who deserved the credit for what occurred, not Joseph. In offering help to others Joseph began to be a vector, pointing to God rather than himself.  Listen to his words.  Joseph said to his two fellow prisoners, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”  (Gen 40:8)  Joseph was giving God glory for what He could do, not Joseph.

A vector’s life is defined by his relationship to God.  His purpose in life is to glorify God, pointing to Him in all events.  By the time Joseph was called from prison to stand before Pharaoh, the transition from victor to vector was complete.  Listen to his reply to Pharaoh’s request that Joseph interpret his dreams.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

“I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” (Gen 41:15,16)

The result was not only interpretation of the dream, but Joseph becoming Prime Minister of Egypt, thereby saving the Egyptians, his family and ultimately you and me through preserving the line of Christ.  That’s the power of being a vector!

So, we can each choose in every situation.  Will we be a victim, letting our suffering define us, living in the pit of complaining? Or a victor, letting our achievements define us as we live in unappreciated help from God? Or step up to a much higher calling and be a vector, letting our relationship to the living, Creator God define us?

One key step we can each take in this process is to get to know better the character of our Great God, the Lord Jesus Christ,  through personal worship, through persistent praise, and through patient obedience to what we know to be true.

For more in depth explanation of these principles of growth, read the earlier entries on this blog and/or get a copy of Knowing Jesus is Enough for Joy, Period from https://www.edifyingservices.com