For Him

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!  

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

  Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!...

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself;

the Lord hears when I call to Him...

There are many who say, "Who will show us some good?

  Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!" 

You have put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

  In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

  Psalm 4: 1,3,6-8

In light of the enemies that surrounded him, David cried to the Lord.  Why could he ask so confidently for God to help him?  He knew that in the past, God had answered his prayers.  And the reason that he knew he would hear from Him was that He had been set apart, sanctified.

Have you ever really considered that if you belong to God through faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been set apart for God?  The book of Colossians tells us that we were created by Him and for Him.  Have you ever wondered why in the world He made man when He had the angels in heaven to fellowship with, when He is completely sufficient in Himself?  Me, too.  But the Scripture says that we were made for Him, for His pleasure, for His glory.

Though many may ask God for good in order to indulge themselves, and though many live in self-indulgence, we may say with David, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.   In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

There is no greater joy than the joy of knowing and being known by the Savior of mankind.  May we live for Him, for His pleasure, for His glory!

Feeling very blessed,

Gloria 

Who Are Your Enemies?

O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
  many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God.

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head. 

I cried aloud to the Lord, 

and He answered me from His holy hill.

I lay down and slept;

I awoke again, for the Lord sustained me...

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Psalm 3:1-5, 8a

Psalm 3 Is one of those passages that many of us might tend to skim over, thinking that only people like King David could relate, but don't give it just a cursory reading and forget it.  There is application for all of us, because we all have enemies.

No enemies, you say?   Really?  What about those people who hate our Savior, and hate us because we love Him?    What about those who want to change our nation into a nation that murders infants and old people and those who are handicapped, saying that they don't benefit society?  I must say that they are my enemies, because I love babies; one of my dearest friends is handicapped; and I'm getting older and older.  Did you know that over 50,000,000  (that's 50 million!) abortions have been performed legally in the United States since 1973? ( refer here )  More and more, we are becoming a nation of people who do not follow the founding fathers in the quest to honor the 10 Commandments, much of what our nation was founded on.

And what about those little enemies of thought that provoke me day and night?  There are those that whisper to me that maybe I'm wrong about what I believe, that all of my devotion is to no avail.  And those that say that I must enjoy the pleasures of sin.  Oh, and those that tell me that it's okay for me to be unkind to those that are unkind to me.  And the ones that say it's okay to eat or drink what gives me satisfaction, no matter that it may be unhealthy for the temple of God, my body, which is not my own since I have been bought with a price--the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.

Praise God, He is my Shield, my Glory, and the Lifter of my head!  Salvation belongs to Him!  I am kept by His great mercy and His protection.  I can lie down and sleep, knowing that my Savior has me encompassed in His mighty hand, sheltered under His wings.  As my enemies swarm, I can know with confidence that the battle is the Lord's and He is the ultimate Victor.  

Trusting in His protective power,

Gloria

When God Laughs

Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

 

Why do we set ourselves against the Lord?  Why do we want to cast away the cords of love and protection and discipline from us?  And why do we think that we are able to do so?  And what makes God laugh?  I encourage you to finish the reading of Psalm 2. (click here)

Two passages came to mind as I read this passage.  How beautifully God's Word helps us to understand God's Word!  It's all we need!

 

"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, 
that he should change his mind. Has he said, 
and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, 
and will he not fulfill it?

Numbers 23:19

 

God is able to laugh in derision at those who want to break the cords around them, because He is God.  What He says goes.  He will fulfill His vows.

The Psalm also tells us that He has placed His Annointed over the ends of the earth.  Some laugh now, saying that He does not rule the earth, that God's Word has failed to come to fruition.  But Jesus, as He was being seized by the mob, said to them:

 

 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, 

and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 

But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so? 

Matthew 26:53-54

Indeed, God will have the last laugh.  

Gloria

 

 

The Treehouse--a Story

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
  The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1

Maggie was a very smart little girl with a personality that could win the hearts of everyone around her.  She lived each day to the fullest, from the time she awoke in the morning until her parents put her to bed at night.  And she was busy--very, very busy.  

Her only problem was that she just did not know who to listen to!  Her mom and dad insisted that she obey them, but a little voice inside her told her that what mom and dad said to do wasn't nearly as fun as what the little voice told her to do.  Mom and Dad said, "Maggie, do not scream at your sisters."  Well!  It seemed to her that if her sisters and brother did not do what she wanted, they deserved her scream, which she took great pride in.  It was LOUD!  They also insisted that she not bite, but something about putting her mouth around an arm or finger felt so--so POWERFUL!  And what was wrong with a little hit now and then?  As far as Maggie was concerned they deserved it.  That little voice could surely get her into trouble, but she was oh, so tempted to do what it said.

One day Maggie looked outside her window.  Dad was working hard building a tree house.  Now, she had always wanted a tree house to climb into, to play in--one with a swing and a bucket tied to a rope, to be used to haul things up in.  What fun she was going to have!  She could imagine herself as the tree house queen, with everyone as her servants.

But there was only one rule:  She must treat her sisters  and her brother with kindness, or she would not be allowed to enter the tree house.  For every scream she would have to sit in the pile of rubbish that was near the old broken-down shed as she watched the others play .  The same applied to biting and hitting.  What a dilemma!  Could Maggie not listen any longer to the little voice in her head that said that being unkind was fun?  If she did, she would never get to enjoy the tree house.  She must make a decision.  What would it be?  She could either continue to do what she seemed to enjoy doing, or she could listen to the admonition of her parents.

The consequences of disobedience suddenly became very real to her.  Every time she looked or walked outside she would think about what her parents told her; and thankfully, Maggie decided to listen to her parents and to do what was right.  And do you know what?  She found that following the voice in her head was not nearly as rewarding as obeying the rules of her parents. And how she enjoyed that tree house!

Oh, that we would make the right decisions so easily!

Gloria

God Is Not Our 911 Call!

 

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,

and let them pray over him,

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 

 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,

and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,

that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,

and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, 

and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:13-16

A man just like us!  After Elijah saw God do such miracles, He got cold feet and fled from Jezebel!  If prayer worked for him, then it works for us.  Break these verses apart today, and find someone to pray for in each of the categories listed.  Don't forget; the prayer of a righteous person has great power. Let's don't use God as our 911 call!

Got to go pray,

Gloria

Yes and No

But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth

or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no,

so that you may not fall under condemnation.

  James 5:12

Have you ever asked your angelic little child a question such as, "Did you take that cookie out of the cookie jar?"  Have you ever gotten a reply (with a look of pure innocence) such as, "No, Mommy, I didn't.  I promise.  I really promise.  Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!"  Why did he say that?  Because the Bible says that we are all liars at heart.  It is a part of the sin nature that we all inherited.  

How often have we tried to cover up a lie with an oath of assurance that we were telling the truth?  The apostle, using the words, "above all, my brothers," once again warns us about the use of the tongue.  How many times does he have  to approach this subject before we get the message:  The tongue is a dangerous thing!  

How difficult is it to just tell the truth?  If I am going to be honest, I must say that it is hard!  I don't like to get into trouble for things.  (Yes, grownups can get in trouble for things, too!)  I hate to admit when I've done something wrong, when I have overlooked the doing of something that I should have done or have been asked to do.  And yes, when confronted with an issue, it is very tempting to cover it with something other than just "yes" or "no."  Somehow just saying "yes" or "no" makes a lie seem all the more a lie.  Adding a little something like, "I swear on the Bible" makes it more believable, right?  Wrong!  It just gets us into more trouble.  In fact, God says that it brings judgment on us.

Let's commit to making our "yes" real, and our "no" truthful.  Then we don't have to make oaths that cannot be kept or were falsely made in the first place.   Then we do not have to fear the condemnation of God.

How about this for an interesting oath? I wonder if anyone has ever kept it once he failed the test...

"Binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked out and given as a prey to the wild beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from thence and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven so that no more trace or remembrance may be had of so vile and perjured a wretch as I, should I ever knowingly or willingly violate this my solemn obligation as a Master Mason, so help me, God, and keep me steadfast in the due performance of the same."

 Something to think about,
Gloria

The Long Road of Perseverance

The long road between the street and the church

 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering,

take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.

You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen 

what the Lord finally brought about. 

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 

James 5:10-11

Perseverance.  Unfortunately I can name all too many situations or projects in which I have failed to persevere.  But that's another post (actually, I hope not.)  Here the writer of the Lord's words is speaking of patience and perseverance in light of suffering.  The believers were going through harsh criticism from without and within.  They were being cheated by the wealthy, suffering want at the hands of their employers.  They were suffering.   Evidently, in light of the verses to follow some were also suffering physically. 

God's Word is replete with examples of those who suffered.  Hebrews 11:35-40  tells of many who suffered, not seeing the results of their faith but believing the God of accomplishment.  God devotes the book of Job to one of the early men of Scripture who by faith believed Him in the midst of indescribable suffering.

Everyday we see living examples of those who persevere through great trial.  My friend Angie lives daily with a debilitating disease that prevents her from walking, from talking, and even from being able to breathe on her own for long periods of time.  Yet her smile is contagious, and if one reads her blog, blessings will be poured out; if you could sit and read her lips as she speaks, you would be blessed beyond measure.  What an example she is to me!

And then there's Mister Jim, a sweet man at our church.  He has lost most of the toes on his left foot to neuropathy, walks almost doubled over with arthritis, and yet he mows the 6 acres at the church faithfully and does anything else he can to contribute.  He, as well, is a great example of those who suffer patiently.

Do you know any wonderful examples of those who persevere in the midst of great trials? I'd love to hear about it, because you are blessed as I am if you do.

Thankful to travel the long road with my great examples,

Gloria