What Gets Me Up in the Morning…

 Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I will cry to You,

When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a shelter for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Selah

For You, O God, have heard my vows;

You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.

You will prolong the king's life,

His years as many generations.

He shall abide before God forever.

Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may daily perform my vows.—Psalm 61

As I read Psalm 61, my soul knitted with David’s.  Every word of it could have been mine this morning. 

I don’t know about you, but the older I get the more thankful I am for my God and the hope that is mine in Him. Before I even open my eyes, I am speaking as Moses spoke to God in Exodus 33:15:

Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

I so need the promise of His presence with me to even get out of bed in the morning.  I truly don’t want to do any part of my day without Him. When I get downstairs and sit with my coffee and my Bible, I am often overwhelmed by my weakness and His strength.  What a gift His everlasting favor is to my heart in this fallen world!  His grace is always sufficient, always available and always reminds me that my hope, my strength…my very life is in Him and from Him. He is my shield and my exceedingly great reward. What gets me out of bed in the morning?  Only the presence of Jesus in my heart and in my life. 

When my heart becomes overwhelmed I remember that

I am His. 

He hears my cry

He leads me, shelters me and protects me 

He is my strong tower

I abide in Him who provides me with strength for each day

I belong to the One who delights in mercy and whose compassions fail not

I trust in the shelter of the One who died to protect me from the hopelessness horror of everlasting torment. 

He will complete the good work He began in me

I dwell with the One that perfects what concerns me and performs all things for me

Beloved…the Lord gives grace and glory.  No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Therefore, I will sing to the Lord and praise Him who has dealt bountifully with me!

No weapon formed against you shall prosper,

And every tongue which rises against you in judgment

You shall condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

And their righteousness is from Me,"

Says the LORD.—Isaiah 54:17

The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD

Forever.—Psalm 23

A Way that Seems Right to Man…

 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.—Judges 17:5-6

As I read about Micah I can’t help but think back to when my sister and I were young and would make pretend set ups down our basement.  Sometimes it was a schoolroom, sometimes an office, maybe even once or twice a church or a Catholic confessional. 😀My girls, when they were young, would play similarly with Playmobiles  It is like Micah here is playing “church” and is collecting all the outward trappings needed and setting it all up to his own liking and subject to his control. He has his own private place of worship...His own priest and His own “way” to worship.

Know this Peter warns:

no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.—2 Peter 2:20-21

Jesus said this in response to the woman at the well…

The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Beloved…Truly, there is a way that seems right to man but its end is the way of death. We are to worship the God of the Bible…the true and living God and not a God of our own imagination. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.—2 Timothy 3:14-17

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.—2 Timothy 4:1-5

The Glory of Our Strength…

There was so much holy beauty and encouragement in my Bible readings this morning. My heart was truly overwhelmed with His goodness.  

Psalm 89 is a contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite in which he remembers God’s covenant with David, and expresses sorrow for lost blessings because of Israel’s disobedience.  How wonderful to read about God’s promises to His chosen people. 

To remember that…

Our God is mighty.  

His faithfulness surrounds Him. 

He rules the raging sea and scatters our enemies with His mighty arm. 

The heavens are His. 

The earth, also. 

The world and all its fullness, He has founded them.

Psalm 89 also brought me comfort because it reminded me that in judgment God always remembers mercy. 

Beloved…Despite our sin and our unfaithfulness, our God’s love toward us is unfailing.  In all our affliction He was (is) afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved (saves) us.  In His love and in His pity, He redeemed us. He bears us and carries us all of our days here on this earth. He is our refuge and strength.  A very present help in trouble. Listen to His beautiful words to those that are His from Psalm 89. 

Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,

Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.

My covenant I will not break,

Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.

Oh how blessed are we whose God is the Lord!  Our God is kind. His mercies fail not! There is forgiveness with Him. Strong is His hand and high is His right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne. Mercy and truth go before His face. 

Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

In Your name they rejoice all day long,

And in Your righteousness they are exalted.

For You are the glory of their strength,

And in Your favor our horn is exalted.

For our shield belongs to the LORD,

And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

Truly He is the glory of our strength. My reading of 2 Corinthians 3 this morning reminded me of this truth. 

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 

It is God who ALWAYS leads us in triumph in Christ.  I am so thankful for Paul’s words that highlight (my) insufficiency. I can’t be reminded of this enough! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Beloved…THIS is the trust we have through Christ toward God.  Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God…and because we have such confidence, because we have received mercy and His ministry of hope…we do not lose heart.  We cry out to Him in our distresses and by His grace, He makes us bold with strength in our soul. We look to Him and are radiant; our faces unashamed. Here is the best part from the end of 2 Corinthians 3.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord

When we look to Him, we are changed into His image from glory to glory by His Spirit.  How unbelievably wonderful is that‽ It brought to mind God’s promises to believers in Romans 8:28 and 8:29.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Our God is supremely in charge of everything that touches our lives.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Things will not just be okay…all that we go through, all that we face…everything…will work together for our good and His glory. It is hard for me to wrap my mind around that one, but the next one is even more mind blowing.  

Throughout our lives…whatever might come our way…as we behold Him and surrender to His leading and Lordship, God will use it to fashion us (me!) into the likeness of His Son.  That is the goal. That is the promise. He will complete the good work He started in you.  Read Philippians 3:12-16 with me. The goal Paul speaks of here is Christlikeness.  

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Beloved…

Look to Him…

Behold Him..

Wait for Him…

Place your trust in Him…

The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.  

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.—Psalm 89

Blessed Be God!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.—2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Beloved…each one of us will experience troubles in this life. No one escapes. The Apostle Paul was no exception. In fact, during the course of his life here on earth, he suffered more than most of his readers could even fathom. If you want to know how to endure trials, study his life…read his epistles. I particularly like what Paul says about his in 2 Corinthians 1:9

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

And also in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

I love that!  As Christians our difficulties are suppose to help us look up!  They humble us and remind us to place our focus on Christ and not on our circumstances…to depend on His sustaining and delivering grace to see us through. We are not to trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.  He is sufficient and He does deliver.  In looking to God we are also in a way looking out for others, because we can use the same comfort we receive from Him to bring them comfort as well.

Paul gives God three titles in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 1. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. He is the Father…or the Originator…of mercy (compassion) and comfort (consolation).  

Beloved…Our God EMBODIES mercy, compassion, comfort and consolation. True comfort will only be found in Him because He is the Source.  Why would we go anywhere else? 

So He became their Savior.

In all their affliction He was afflicted,

And the Angel of His Presence saved them;

In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;

And He bore them and carried them

All the days of old.—Isaiah 63:8b; 9

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.—Psalm 46:1

In the day when I cried out, You answered me,

And made me bold with strength in my soul.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;

You will stretch out Your hand

Against the wrath of my enemies,

And Your right hand will save me.

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;

Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever;

Do not forsake the works of Your hands.—Psalm 138:3; 7-8

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.—Hebrews 4:16

He Who Offers Praise Glorifies Me…

Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;

And to him who orders his conduct aright

I will show the salvation of God."—Psalm 50:23 NKJV

Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” 

There is a little girl in my life that makes me a birthday card each and every year.  These are not just any birthday cards.  These cards are her way of showing me that she appreciates my presence in her life. The obvious time and effort she takes and the love she puts into creating them makes her gift more valuable to me and has often moved me to tears. I cannot help but want to display the precious gift of her heart for all to see.  (This year’s card is already framed.) 

Beloved our God is the same…if I in my fallen state respond to a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise this way, how much more will God respond when I offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

When things are hard, when the way is difficult, when you feel that God has deserted you, or your mind is so immersed in fear and anxiety that you can’t see two feet in front of you…that, beloved…is the perfect time to offer a sacrifice of thanks to your God.  

This kind of gratitude is not of this world.  It is supernatural and is produced as we surrender to the Spirit of God who dwells in us.  It does not make any earthly sense and brings our pride low.  Here is the thing though.  As we push through our screaming flesh and present our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God for His blessings, we honor Him and our gratitude is glorified.  As we do this God’s word promises that we are preparing the way for Him to show us His salvation and shower us with grace upon grace. Blessed is the man who trusts Him!

Thank Him because…

He is sovereign and all that He does is good

He works all in your life together for your good and His glory

His will for you comes from His heart of love

His love endures forever

He is on your side

He did not spare His only beloved Son but delivered Him up for us all

Nothing can separate us from His love

He is where our help comes from

His grace is sufficient

He is our great consolation

His word comforts us in our affliction

In our weakness His strength is made perfect

He never leaves us nor forsakes us

He has prepared a place for us

Absent from the body is present with Him in heaven

He hears our prayers

He brings beauty from ashes

He gives the oil of joy for mourning

He gives the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness

In Him there is no darkness at all

He preserves us through this life

He thinks on us and considers our affliction

He gives us other worldly rest and peace

He keeps His promises

His benefits are great

He is your portion

He commands His loving kindness in the daytime and at night His song shall be with you.

He undertakes for us

He delivers us

Underneath us are His everlasting arms

We are not alone in our fears, trials and troubles

We stand in His grace…His everlasting favor. 

He is compassionate and gracious

In Him is wisdom

He never changes…He is the same yesterday, today and forever

He is gracious, full of compassion and righteous

As our great high priest, He can sympathize with us in our weakness

We can come boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need

Quit Ye Like Men…

 “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” ~ 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, NKJV

In the King James, the injunction "be brave," is translated, "quit you like men." Here Paul is linking the qualities of power (quit ye like men!) and love (that combination being rather counter-intuitive today). As he closes his epistle to the Corinthians, he urges them towards very soldierly virtues: watchfulness, steadfastness, bravery, and strength. Yet at the same time, he also exhorts them to align everything they do - including watching, being steadfast, being brave, and being strong - with the priorities of love. Our example is, as always, Christ Himself. On the cross He demonstrated both the heart of a warrior (quit ye like men!) and the heart of love. He acquitted Himself as a soldier in that He submitted Himself totally to His Father's will; endured well to the end the ordeal that was laid upon Him; trusted the Lord completely for all that He needed; faced the battles He fought without faintness or cowardliness; He protected those under Him; He completed His mission. He acquitted Himself in love in that His whole reason for going to the cross was His love for His Father, and His great love for us; when He opened His mouth, He was caring for His mother, speaking salvation to the thief next to Him, speaking the truth, or reaching out to those who were abusing Him; He again protected those under Him; He healed one of those who came to take Him into custody; and so much more. Jesus is the perfect example, the epitome of these two verses. To be like Him, we do as He did - depend totally on the Lord and let His Spirit do the work rather than striving to accomplish it ourselves. Our strength is pitiful. It has to be God's if we are to answer Paul's exhortations. Through His Spirit in us, the love and the strength of Jesus (quit ye like men!) are also ours. May we live them both out in the world.

by Rebecca...

Encouragement Toward Humility…

From Spurgeon…

GRACE FOR THE HUMBLE 

He giveth grace unto the humble. (James 4:6) 

Humble hearts seek grace, and therefore they get it. Humble hearts yield to the sweet influences of grace, and so it is bestowed on them more and more largely. Humble hearts lie in the valleys where streams of grace are flowing, and hence they drink of them, Humble hearts are grateful for grace and give the Lord the glory of it, and hence it is consistent with His honor to give it to them. 

Come, dear reader, take a lowly place. Be little in thine own esteem, that the Lord may make much of thee. Perhaps the sigh breaks out, "I fear I am not humble." It may be that this is the language of true humility. Some are proud of being humble, and this is one of the very worst sorts of pride. We are needy, helpless, undeserving, hell-deserving creatures, and if we are not humble we ought to be. Let us humble ourselves because of our sins against humility, and then the Lord will give us to taste of His favor. It is grace which makes us humble, and grace which finds in this humility an opportunity for pouring in more grace. Let us go down that we may rise. Let us be poor in spirit that God may make us rich. Let us be humble that we may not need to be humbled but may be exalted by the grace of God.—Spurgeon

Paul was who he was by the grace of his God…

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.—1 Corinthians 15:9-11

David knew from whence came his help and yearned for God in the midst of distresses…

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

"Where is your God?"

When I remember these things,

I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,

With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

For the help of His countenance.

O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar.

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,

And in the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to God my Rock,

"Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

As with a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

While they say to me all day long,

"Where is your God?"

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.—Psalm 42

Gideon affirms the Kingship of God…

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian."

But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you."—Judges 8:23-24

There are so many examples of humility in the Scriptures…I pulled these particular ones just from my thru the Bible in a year readings this morning.  I will add one more example from Philippians.  This one is the greatest of all..

The humility and exaltation of Jesus Christ…

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.—Philippians 2