In His Grace,
Sunday, June 29, 2014
God's Paintbrush
In His Grace,
Friday, June 27, 2014
Sabbath Sanctuary: Our God Reign
“The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He” {Psalm 99:1-5 NASB}.
“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome, ‘do your worst, for I will do mine!’” The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Sabath Sanctuary : After The Storm
He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields Job 5:10 NASB
When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:23-27 NASB
Rest even in the midst of the storm...
In His Grace,
JJ— Jesu Juva Jesus help!
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Psalms To See Me Through: Psalm 9—Thanking Him With My Whole Heart
To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm
of David.
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole
heart {v. 1a}.[1]
My heart is full. I am thankful to Him. He has spoken into the depths of my
soul and awakened me to His life. I was dead, lifeless. Blessed is He who is
the Breath of Life reads a Hebrew blessing, and it permeates my being. The
goodness of God is immeasurable—it never ceases. He has performed miracles in
my life, even in the desert, in the midst of the draught, He has filled me with
Living Water.
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be
glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most
High {vs. 1b-2}.
God’s praises should always be upon our lips, “‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” speaks the beloved disciple in the book that bears his name (Jn. 7:38). He saved me; filled me with His Spirit and gave me hope and a future and an expected end (see Jer. 29:11). How can I stand before God, absent of a heart filled with gratitude? How can I not thank Him with my whole heart?
Is this not reason enough to be grateful before Him? He is my refuge and
fortress; He does battle on my behalf, El Gabor—the Warrior Messiah, the Mighty
God. He has a plan and purpose for my life. He has a purpose for the nations
and plans of ruin for the wicked. He is God, and He rules sovereign over all
the world.
Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell
among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of
them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me,
O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the
gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates
of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation {vs. 11-14}.
God is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. He is wonderful and glorious.
He is Elah Eloah—the Adorable One. He is the King of Glory. He is more than
deserving of our praise. We have witnessed the holy and made it common. The
Lord remembers those who fear Him. He remembers those who are thankful for his
comfort and deliverance. God is always present in our lives in the midst of
hard trials and during times when we may despair in our circumstances. We all
face times of darkness, but He is always there when we call upon Him. He is
ever faithful. He hears those with a thankful heart who give Him praise for His
goodness and mercy.
Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.
The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of
remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and
esteemed his name {Mal. 3:16}.
God has not forgotten those that fear Him; He has not forgotten those that
don’t fear Him:
“The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the
wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah
The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the
nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord! Let
not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear,
O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah” {vs. 15-20}.
He remembers those who remember Him and forgets those who do not; “for since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse” {Rom. 1:20}.
The last five verses call upon God’s justice and mercy. The nations need a
paradigm shift—they are but dust. Higgaion
means meditation or consideration, and probably an interlude giving
musical expression to the feelings uttered by the psalmist. God wants this to
be deeply rooted in our thoughts and hearts, to meditate on His judgment and His mercy for the nations and for
men. We are but dust…
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” {Mk. 12:30 NIV}.
Cultivate a grateful heart. How can God give us more if we can’t thank Him
for what He has already so generously and graciously given? Was Salvation not
enough? He has performed wonders in our lives and loved us when we were filthy
and unlovable. We must remember Him and how He has delivered us from darkness. How
can I not thank Him with my whole heart?
To read all the Psalms in this series, click here: Psalms To See Me Through
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[1] Unless otherwise noted,
all Scripture references are in the English Standard Bible, Crossway, 2011.