“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: You have enlarged me in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” Psalm 4:1 (KJB)
Pain
Take Hold; Draw Out
Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalm 35:1-3 (KJB)
The thought that David is giving (concerning the “shield and buckler” v. 2) is that the LORD is his protection and strength against all his enemies; his accusers. The LORD is our protection against the onslaught of the enemy, and our accusers.
There is none who can accuse quite as strongly, maybe even honestly as the devil, that old serpent, Satan himself. John the revelator calls him the “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10). So when you are attacked, accused, ridiculed, or viciously beaten and bruised; yet, still living; God is your strength and your shield.
Let me make something plain from our text. God, the LORD has no need of physical weapons such as a sword, a shield, or a buckler. They are, however, great examples of God’s means for our protection and safe keeping.
When Stephen was stoned to death in the book of Acts chapter 7 verses 54 through 60 we find Jesus standing to welcome him to his new home with Him. The Lord stands with us in our time of suffering and pain. He is with you today.
If you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior do that today. He is your help, your shield, your strength. He is all those and more for all who trust in Him.
The ONE Who Inhabits Praises
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent. But You are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22:1-3 (KJV)
This is named as another Psalm of David. Now, whatever David was experiencing I do not think he realized this was going to be a song the Messiah would sing; but it was, and it is His Song. You can see the words of this first verse as Jesus was coming out of the darkness of the crucifixion, and they are words even David could not express except the LORD had given them. Yet, how could David know the intensity, the suffering, the agony both on the cross and in the garden of Gethsemane?
Both David and the Messiah understood the fact that praises only belong to the One who inhabits those praises. That is God.
Jesus as He willingly laid down His life on the cross knew the agony, the pain, and the suffering that was coming, yet He laid it down. The pain worse than death by the tormenting beatings, the nails in His hands and feet, and even the spear in His side was the pain He felt when in that darkness He experienced what life and death was like without God, His Father.
For the very first time in His life Jesus experienced being apart from His Father and this is the first prayer He prays where He refers to His Father as “My God, My God…”. Even in the prayer He still hangs on to the truth of resurrection, faith in the One who will raise Him is faith in the the One who inhabits the praises of Israel; the praises of His people.
No matter what you are going through today you can believe, and know that the One who knows you loves you best, and He has already suffered in what you are suffering. He knows your pain. He knows your sin and has paid the price to redeem you from all your sin.
Christmas Day Two Hundred Twenty and Six
What do I want for Christmas?
With today’s “Want” I am being a bit selfish. I have a problem with my right knee which is in pain.
I want to ask those who read this, those who have a heart for God, His Word, and His Son, and prayer; to pray for healing. In addition I want to ask God to heal your hurts and pains today as well. God bless you, and Thank you.
Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.” Psalm 25:18 (KJV)
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16
Now My Eyes See
“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto Me. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6 (KJV)
Job is not told why he has been through the trials, pain, sickness, loss, despair, which he has endured. We simply see in these verses that he has his chance to speak with God.
God, the LORD, has spoken in chapters 38 – 41, and He has asked Job the question stated above; “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?” Job confesses, “I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”
We can learn from this that when we have truly seen God through faith, His Word, and His Son, then all our questions cease.
There has been many a time that I have questioned God; fallen before Him in prayer with fear and trembling; and arose without an answer, but I did not need one any longer. I had seen God; heard Him and that was sufficient.
When I say “I had seen God”; I mean that I had seen Him through eyes of faith, through His Word. One day I will look into the eyes of my Lord and Saviour, and I so long for that day.
Like Job, when we see God, we will see ourselves as we truly are. In need of repentance and forgiveness which only God gives through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
Blessing In The Storms
As I sit and write this morning rain is coming down in our area. Rain is a much needed item here in Southwest Missouri for hay, crops which are grown here, and for all our gardens. Rain, in short, is a wonderful blessing. However, there are times it may seem a bit like a curse upon us when we get what we may deem ” a little too much”.
We can see the rain as a blessing when the ground gets too dry, and especially after drought conditions have prevailed for several months. I think we are in a drought condition spiritually. I need some rain, and maybe even some storms to come into my life. We all do; or we just dry up.
I think we need to hear what Job said to his wife when she told him, “Curse God, and die”.
“Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job 2:9-10 (KJV)
How would we know comforts if we did not know discomfort? How would we know pleasure, if we knew no pain? How would we know good, if we knew no evil?
God is working for the good of those who love Him; and for His own honor and glory. Let’s rejoice in the storms and evil which comes our way.
-Tim A. Blankenship
THE HAPPINESS OF THE REVELATION (2)
THE HAPPY DEAD
Revelation 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. (KJV).There is happiness in death to the self, giving all for Christ, possibly even dying for the faith, and ultimate happiness when our salvation is completed at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Does the above statement shock you. Death is our enemy according to Scripture, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor 15:26 (KJV). The “death” of the above statement is the giving of one’s self for Christ’s sake.
In our day of modern technology there are many who have an innate fear of death. Maybe that is as it should be. Death tends to remind us that we are but finite (limited) beings, and uncertain of what lies beyond. That is shown in our technology, which appears at times to lengthen man’s life span.
It seems that man has always sought for a “Fountain of Youth”. It also seems, that in the minds of many, the new “Fountain of Youth” is modern technology. People fearful of growing old are almost shameful of their age. There are some who have made request, that upon their death their body be frozen in hopes that in some future day their body can be revived and cured of the ailment which caused their demise. There was, at one time a great effort at promoting “Cryogenic labs” which provided the service of freezing the dead. If you were rich enough and foolish enough to believe such things. I have not heard much about it in recent days.
The one who has faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ should know that for them death is an enemy which has been defeated. It cannot hold us, and escape from it is not provided by any of the technological advances of man. For the believer death is to be “Absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Why would any sensible person want to continue in a body wracked by pain, a life filled with tragedy and sorrow? Let me clarify something – Life is in God’s hands, and it is He and He alone who gives life, and He is the only one who has the right to take it, or those to whom He has given authority (Read Romans 13:1-7).
Who are “The Happy Dead”? Those who are dead to the self life, and living for Jesus. Those who while physically alive chose Jesus’ life for their life, and lived for Him, but whose bodies are now in the grave, and their spirits are in the presence of the Lord who will one day bring the spirits with Him to rejoin them with their bodies, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (1 Thes. 4:14 (KJV).
Why should we call them “The Happy Dead”? or Why are they “The Happy Dead”?
In the first place THEY HAVE A PASSION FOR GOD. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20 (KJV). “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Cor 15:31 (KJV). They receive that passion before their bodies return to the earth from which they came. The one’s who are in Christ Jesus have given their lives to Him for the cause of Christ and eternity. In doing this it shows their passion for Jesus. Their hearts are on Jesus, for Jesus, and not just to gain eternity, but because of it. Those who have died in Christ Jesus are now in His presence and enjoying happiness beyond our mortal understanding.
Secondly, THEY HAVE A PLACE WITH GOD. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Psalms 116:15 (KJV). Through faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross we are promised a place (John 14:1-3). Those who have a promised place with God throughout eternity have given Him a permanent place in their lives. They spend time daily in fellowship with Him. Reading, studying, meditating, and living by His Word – led by the Holy Spirit. They have found strength for living by Jesus living His life in them. There is no place four with God in the life of the wicked, but God does not joy in that, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” (Ezek 18:32 (KJV). He desires for all to come to salvation in Jesus.
Thirdly, THEY HAVE THE PEACE OF GOD. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:7 (KJV). “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Heb 4:9-11 (KJV). Those who believe come to a place in their lives where they relaize that all their labors (for salvation) are in vain. They will realize that if they are to have the “Peace of God” they will cease from their own labors and completely trust in the finished work of grace by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Last, but certainly not exhausted, THEY HAVE THE PRAISE OF GOD. “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matt 25:21 (KJV). “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matt 25:23 (KJV). “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt 25:34 (KJV). God rewards those who are always faithful with that which He has given them. Your salvation is the greatest gift He has given. It could be asked, “What can I do faithfully with my salvation?” The answer for that is, “Do all that is in your ability and the power of the Holy Spirit to grow into the image of Christ”. Reading the Scriptures, praying, praising, witnessing, living the life that will honor and glorify Christ. Be faithful with the material blessings God has given. We all must remember that the praises of men have a short duration, but the praises of God are eternal. The praises of God begin when you act on faith in God’s Word. When there is sin in your life – agree with God. When it concerns the matter of salvation; it is only a work of God and God alone – agree with God. When God says, “This is my Son, your Savior” – agree with God. When you are in agreement with God you are walking with Him. When you do not agree with God you are away from Him.
In conclusion, the people who are THE HAPPY DEAD are those who realize their position in Christ Jesus. These are a people who are dead to the self-life and alive in Jesus. These are also a people who know that victory over death is their’s through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Fire and Hammer 