Psalm 101

 

PSALM 101

Ps. 101: 2-3 I will be careful to live a blameless life—when will you come to my aid? I will live a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile or vulgar. I hate crooked dealings; I will have nothing to do with them. NLT

In verse one we are given a great formula for worship. The Psalmist says he will sing of God’s love and justice. He says he will praise the Lord with songs. It is always good for the soul to sing praises to the Lord and sing of His great love for us.

Worship must be at the center of all that we do. Worship affects how we live. Living a blameless life enhances our ability to worship the Lord. Worship is much more than a mental exercise, it’s a heart reaching out to God in adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. A blameless life frees up the soul to touch God’s heart.

Walking with God blamelessly must be the intent of our hearts. We must strive to live in such a way that others cannot blame us for wrongdoing. How careful are you in how you live? Do you strive to always do what is right before God? When we live rightly before God, we will live rightly before man. We should always strive to show the fruit of the Spirit through our living so others will see Christ in us. Gal. 5:22-23

We must strive to live blameless lives at home. It’s much easier to put on a godly face in public than it is in private. At home, we relax and let our guard down. We are far more apt to say and do things at home that we would not in public. We are apt to react to stress differently in private than we do in public. We are apt to let ourselves be entertained at home in ways we would never want to be seen doing in public. We need to understand that God sees what we do in private as well as what we do in public. He sees how we treat our family. He sees it all and holds us accountable for it.

We must protect the purity of our eyes. The eyes are the gateway to the soul. What we see lingers in our minds and find its way into our soul. We cannot unsee what we see. If we gaze upon vile and vulgar things, they will soon captivate our thoughts and affect our souls. We must stand guard over what we let our eyes gaze on. I Thess. 4:8

Are you striving to live a blameless life? It is only possible by letting Jesus be your Savior and Lord.

FORGIVENESS

 

FORGIVENESS

Matt. 6:14-23

The Lord recently led me to share a devotional with a rodeo crowd on the subject of forgiveness. I feel like it is important that I share the jest of it with you today.

Forgiveness is the pathway to God. I John 1:8-10; Matt. 6:14-15 In order to have a personal relationship with God, forgiveness comes into play. Without the forgiveness of Christ, no one can know God. We are compelled to confess our sins to Him, ask for His forgiveness, claim it, and then live like it.

Forgiveness is the pathway to answered prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-23 that if we are not willing to forgive others, God will not hear, let alone answer, our prayers. If your prayers seem to be going nowhere, perhaps you need to examine your heart and see if you are harboring bad feelings towards someone.

Forgiveness is the pathway to healing broken relationships. We are to forgive those who have wronged us. We all have been hurt by the words or actions of others. Some of us have been hurt deeply and everything within us urges us to not forget the pain caused and forgive them. Peter asked Jesus one day how many times one should forgive someone who wrongs them, seven times? Jesus replied, “No, seventy times seven!” In other words, there is no limit to the times we are to forgive one another. Sometimes we must forgive ourselves. We say and do things that are hurtful to others that we regret doing. Even though we may not be able to rectify what we have done and seek forgiveness, we must forgive ourselves in order to find peace for our souls. What is under the blood of Christ must stay there. How can we justify not forgiving others or ourselves when Christ forgives us?

Forgiveness is the pathway to healing our nation. II Chron. 7:14 Things are only as hopeless as our unwillingness to humble ourselves before God, confess our sins, ask Him for forgiveness, and change our ways. Seeking God will change the course of our history. Notice, it begins with us, God’s people. Are you seeking God on behalf of our nation?

Forgiving is one of the hardest things we will ever do. Yet, it is the most important thing we can ever do. It is the pathway to God’s peace in our lives, our homes, our neighborhoods, and our nation. Phil. 4:13

PASSING THE MANTEL 3

 

PASSING THE MANTEL 3

I Kings 2:11-15

A hymn that we used to sing in the church is, Faith is the Victory. I am sure that it is still sung in many churches, but it has been a while since I heard it. But, the message of the hymn rings so very true in life. When we exercise faith, we experience victory. In this life, we gain victory over our sinful nature. We are able to live in victory over Satan. We able to let go of our pasts and forge ahead by faith. And, of course, our ultimate victory is eternal life in the presence of God.

We observe in our text today that for Elijah, his walk of faith was over. He had lived faithfully to the Lord. He had served Him well. He had not shied away from being a. bold witness for the Lord. He lived a life of obedience, and now his coronation day had arrived. God sent a fiery chariot to come and swoop him away to heaven. It was a glorious testimony of the life he had lived. It was a welcome home unlike any other human has ever known. II Tim. 4;6-8

For Elisha, it was the beginning of his glorious ministry. He had been mentored well by Elijah, and it was now the time for him to step out on his own and continue Elijah’s ministry. 11-15 He had been a witness to how God can use a mighty man of faith. He absorbed how to walk with God by faith. He was ready to follow the Lord. He picked up Elijah’s discarded cloak and set out to follow the Lord. Immediately God answered Elisha’s prayer and opened up a pathway through the Jordan River for him to walk through. It was just the beginning of great things God did through Elisha to show His people that He was God and was able to help them if they would but let Him.

One of the things we dare not miss from our text is that Elisha needed to spend time being mentored by Elijah. When we skip this step and venture out on our own, all kinds of problems arise. We need to be taught how to properly understand and apply God’s Word. We need to understand how to trust God with seemingly impossible circumstances of life. We need to learn how to discern truth from error. We need to learn the importance of prayer in life. We need to learn how to live by faith and not by sight. We need to learn how to serve the Lord selflessly for His honor and glory.

PASSING THE MANTEL 2

 

PASSING THE MANTEL 2

II Kings 2: 8-10

When we really step out in faith, things cannot remain the same. The Lord blesses those who dare to live by faith. Faith is more about doing than believing. All the belief in the world will not matter if there is not works to back it up.

By faith, Elijah was able to face the unexpected with confidence. He knew that the Lord was about to take him out of this world by some extraordinary means. Whether or not God had told him that it would be by chariots of fire or not, we aren’t told. But, we do know that God told him where to go for his departure from the earth. He was going to be taken home to heaven. Even though Elijah must have been uncertain about what was about to happen, he trusted God. He went where God led him to. He believed that God would indeed work things out for the good.

By faith, Elisha was able to face the unexpected with confidence. Elijah had asked Elisha what he wanted him to do before he was taken away. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. What was he really asking for? He wanted not only the faith of Elijah, he wanted a greater faith. He knew that whatever the future would hold for him, he needed God more than ever. He was certainly out of his comfort zone and needed a lot of help from God.

Elisha not only wanted to carry on the ministry of Elijah, he wanted to do so much more, not for his glory, but God’s. He wanted to be a difference maker in Israel to help Israel return back to the Lord. He wanted God to be seen as Israel’s hope and salvation.

Elisha wanted not only to know God like Elijah did, he wanted to know Him better. What a lofty goal! Elisha was satisfied with just knowing God, he wanted to know Him in His power and glory. No matter how well we may get to know the Lord, we can get to know Him better. All of us need more of Jesus. All of us fall short of loving our Lord with all of our heart, mind, and soul.

Let our heart’s cry be, “Let thy mantel fall on me.” Let us never be satisfied with where we are at in our understanding and standing with God. Let us always seek to grow and become greater warriors for God. “Lord, let thy mantel fall on me.”

PASSING THE MANTEL

 

PASSING THE MANTEL

II Kings 2:1-7

The church has a mandate, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” The degree to which we obey the Lord determines the health and future of the church. Because so many of us have failed to pass on our faith and help others grow in it, the church has become merely a shell of what she should and needs to be. We have lost our voice in the world because we make a lot of noise without much substance. People need to see faith working, not just speaking.

As we face an uncertain future, faith is required. 1-7 As we look at this passage of Scripture, we notice a couple of interesting things. Elijah was on the run. He had just come down from a mountain top experience and was drained. He was vulnerable. He was scared. He needed the Lord’s help. His very ministry was at a crossroad.

Elijah had just been used of the Lord to bring about a great victory in Israel. He had displayed God’s glory to a people who were indifferent to God. He had been used by God to bring justice to hundreds of Baal worshipers. It was a spectacular display of God’s realness and the power of prayer. Yet, would it be enough to turn people’s heart back to the Lord once they came down from the mountain? Would they survive spiritually without him around? Would Elisha be ready to take over?

Was Elisha ready to take over for Elijah? Elisha was not looking to fill Elijah’s shoes. He was doing what he always had done, helping to plow a field to provide food for his family. God had told Elijah to seek Elisha out and put his mantel on him. God had chosen Elisha to be Elijah’s successor. Elisha had a decision to make.

Faith demands that we leave our comfort zone. Elisha did not know what was in store for him. He did not know what would become of the family he would leave behind. He did not know if he was up to the challenge or not. He would never know what the Lord could do through him without leaving his comfort zone.

. Elisha had to stand on God’s promises. We have to stand on God’s promises when there simply is nowhere else to stand. Life was very difficult for the Israelites at this time. The Midianites were harassing them and seizing whatever they could of their possessions. The only hope for Elisha to escape from his current life was to stand on God’s promises. He had to trust that God knew what He was doing and follow Him.

Faith determines whether or not we will become what God wants us to be. It requires us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, wherever it may lead us. It demands we let go of whatever may hinder us. It demands that we fix our eyes on Jesus and let Him be the Lord of our lives.

FORGET NOT 9

 

FORGET NOT 9

Psalm 103:19-22

One of the things that we observe from the latter part of Psalm 103 is that God rules from heaven over us. We like to think that are in charge, but if Jesus is our Savior, He must be in charge of our lives. He cannot be just our Savior, He must be our Lord as well. And when you stop to think about it, it makes no sense to have it any other way.

Jesus is in heaven today seated at the right hand of God. 19 You can’t beat His perspective. He sees it all. He sees our past, present, and future. He knows better than we do what our lives are all about. He can work all things out for our good (Rom. 8:28) because He sees what we don’t. He knows how to use our moments to fit into greater plan of making us better version of ourselves. When we let Him be in charge, He makes something beautiful out of us and our lives.

Jesus reigns over us through God’s Word. 20 God’s Word is our blueprint for living. In Psalm 119 we find a treasure chest of full of reasons why the Word is important to us. Everything God needs for us to know in order to live a victorious life in Christ is found in God’s Word. God makes it very clear who we are, what we are up against, and why we need Jesus every moment of every day.

Jesus reigns over us as we find and do His will. 21 In it’s simplest form, God’s will is that we would live holy lives before Him. Everything else flows from that. What we do in service to the Lord doesn’t matter if we aren’t holy in heart. Holiness of heart is made possible only as we live under the lordship of Christ.

Jesus reigns over us so let us praise our God and King. 21 There is no greater life to live than to live with praise and thanksgiving on our hearts to our God. If your heart is not full of praise and thanksgiving, you are not living the life God created you to live in Christ Jesus. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

FORGET NOT 8

 

FORGET NOT 8

Psalm 103:15-18

God loves us eternally. His love for us never changes. He loves us and will love us forever. His love for us compelled Him to die for our sins. His love for us compelled Him invite us into a relationship with Him. His love is what keeps His children safe and brings them into heaven.

There is not a moment in time that God does not know who, what, and where we are. He knows about our struggles. He knows about our fears and doubts. He knows about our everything that we experience in life. And, He is always ready, willing, and able to help us through our struggles.

His love for us does not depend on us. There is nothing we can do to earn His love. There is nothing that we can do to stop Him from loving us. Now, we can spurn His love and keep Him at a distance from us. The Lord will not stay close to anyone who does not want Him close. Yet, no matter how we may distance ourselves from Him, the Lord loves us and will continue to try and instill a desire in us for Him.

Our love for God is evidenced in our obedience to Him. If we love Him, we will have no problem with listening to what He has to say and then obeying Him. When we obey Him, we are blessed by God. God wants to bless us. He wants good things for us. He wants us to have hearts full of peace, joy, and love. He wants what is best for us. He wants us to experience abundant living in Christ.

The only thing that keeps us from enjoying the blessings of God is ourselves. We are often too proud and stubborn to let go of what keeps us from being blessed by God. We aren’t as carefully about staying pure before God as we should be. We make excuses for our sins. We fail to confess our sins to the Lord and seek forgiveness as we should. We pursue earthly gain instead of heavenly gain.

Have you had a love bath lately? Are you living in the love of Jesus? Are you loving Him back? Never forget; love takes two to make it work. Jesus loves you, but you must love Him back in order for you to have a relationship with Him. Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and you will be blessed. Love Him, and you will naturally love others and yourself.