Category: QuietTimes

(Day 46) “HELP, LORD! For principled and godly people are here no more; faithfulness and the faithful vanish from among the sons of men. To his neighbor each one speaks words without use or worth or truth; with flattering lips and double heart [deceitfully] they speak.” Psalms 12:1-2 [AMP]

Sorry gents – this is from yesterday.  I was on duty all day since Marianne was feeling under the weather and just didn’t have time to write things up.  I will be sending another one of theses for today later on.  These 2 verses feel like they could be applied to the here-and-now.  I do feel like there is a purifying of the church today with the current cancel culture movement and pressure being applied to our biblical values.  There is no more room for the lukewarm Christian.  Even the second verse is indicative of the anti-social atmosphere that technology has brought to our communities where everyone is so superficial.  I can be an agent of change here and we in our church need to be ready to accept Christians migrating from broken churches.

(Day 45) “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold; His eyelids test and prove the children of men.  The Lord tests and proves the [unyieldingly] righteous, but His soul abhors the wicked and him who loves violence.  Upon the wicked He will rain quick burning coals or snares; fire, brimstone, and a [dreadful] scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.  For the Lord is [rigidly] righteous, He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face, or He beholds the upright.” Psalms 11:4-7

A couple of things stood out to me in here in Psalm 11.  1) The Lord is in residence…not in flight.  His foundation is the solid rock of heaven.  2) The Lord refines and tunes the ones He loves and who are His but God abhors the one who does evil.  3) God as ‘refuge’ may be sought from motives that are all too self-serving; but to see God’s face is a goal in which only love has interest. So, all of this together shows the assuredness we have in our God who executes everything from a place which is His and He is rock solid in His ability make us better through trial and perseverance.  We can rest assured that He will address the evil in the hearts of ungodly men.  Our righteous deeds that please the Lord are out of a love for Him; a love that desires to see His face on the day of His return.

(Day 44) “Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account?” But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself;you have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.

Sometimes I find myself asking the same thing David does here, “Why God, do you allow the utter disrespect of some of those around me, toward You? Why are they able to get away with it?” I have to remind myself that they don’t away with it. God is keeping score as long as they have not accepted His Son. They will account for their godlessness at the appropriate time. However, can some of the ways I behave or choices I make be just as hurtful to loving God who graciously saved my life? The distance between my choice on a different direction than God’s will and the man in the passage above, is not that far…at all.

(Day 43) “For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” Psalms 10:3-4

Wow! Doesn’t this feel like the world today? Even more so the Western World mindset. I read passages like this and can get disheartened that these people are impossible to reach…but God “calls” those to Himself. That is where we come in and sow the seed. That is why we have to be ready for and take every opportunity God puts in front of us.

(Day 42) “The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Psalms 9:9-10

What an awesome set of verses to end on today. The Lord as a Stronghold is such a powerful vision. Strongholds are fortified embankments that have layers of protection. Those layers become more and more hardened the deeper you go. What a cool analogy! Then the promise -> those who seek God will NOT be forsaken. Walk into the rest of the week encouraged men!

(Day 40) “But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Psalms 9:7-10

Similar to the passage that Elisha (worship team) read this morning during worship, this passage gives me peace in the face of the election and the future of our country ahead. Just like Randy T’s prayer this morning I only see more trouble ahead but God is sovereign. He has gone before us and everything that is happening in the world and anything that may happen, have all been allowed through God’s hand. I have really been taking to heart what Pastor Steve has preached on these last 2 weeks (Kindness and Goodness). I have to ask myself “How am I doing in regard to living ALL of the fruits of the Spirit?…and what is my heart condition in the demonstration of that fruit?”

(Day 39) “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalms 8:3-4

Psalm 8 has to be one of the greatest Psalms!! When we look at what the Lord has made and even think of the things that we have not seen that He has made, who are we that He should even think of us? Not only think of us but to specifically build a place for us in His Kingdom (Isaiah 45:18 and 51:16). Not only is God mindful of us but He takes care of us….He sees to it that our needs are met. It is really hard for me to wrap my brain around these truths but I meditate on them -> believing that God’s word is the complete inerrant word of the Lord Most High; I try to imagine myself in His throne room and what a place that must be both scary and awesome at the same time. Just read the depiction of it in Revelation 4.

(Day38) Jeremiah 15:19-21 – Today (Yesterday) was my prep for my Devotion that I will give to the Pastors and Elders at the monthly elders meeting on Monday (No pressure!). I think that this devotion is very appropriate (timewise) for where we are at today as a church -> in the middle of a pandemic, an aggressive ungodly culture who is actively targeting the church, and a time where there are many false teachers confusing the truth-seeker. I will share my notes on this devotional as soon as I have delivered them. UPDATE: Here it is! :-p

Pastor/Elder Devotion – Delivered November 9, 2020

SETUP:

The verses directly preceding this passage are a lament from Jeremiah where he finishes his thought with an accusatory sentiment -> “Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?  Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?” Jeremiah 15:18  Jeremiah has been faithful to what God has called him to do but you can see that he has had a heart of distrust and waning spirit.  Now we see God’s response.

[ESV]

Verse 19:

Verse 20:

We have been set aside and as long as our hearts (motives) are pure before the King, He promises the following:

**We must be careful not to let our definition of deliverance rule our thought; we must cling to God’s promises**

Verse 21:

Summary:

So,  as we move forward together into this season of the life of our church and God’s will and purpose for it; lets keep what we are doing here [experiencing togetherness and brotherly love] moving forward…a relational support structure where, as God intended, have each other to lean on and persevere.  As we move into prayer time before this meeting, let’s bring any unworthy and warranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness before Him.  Let our first action of this meeting of all of us together be the clearing of any veils of unbelief, worry, and sin.  Let’s lean into the fact that Jesus, our Risen Savior, is standing beside the Father, knowing precisely what it feels like to be right where we are.

(Day 37) “The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.  Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!  My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.  God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” Psalms 7:8-11 [ESV]

Good day Gents!  I just wanted to tell you again how much I love your posts everyday.  I don’t know about you but I am not only getting into a groove, I sense the leading of the Holy Spirit in my heart and mind both during my reading and a closeness throughout the day.  There is a clarity of mind that I have received through this; a patient heart and mind that looks at challenges with a spiritually appropriate heart and mindset.  In my reading in  Psalms 7 today I am again taken-aback by David looping himself in when asking God to judge.  He does not make this request from a lofty place; in fact he makes from a lowly place.  He says ‘let the evil come to an end’….including his own, that God might establish HIS righteousness.  God tests our hearts and minds — our good and honorable actions mean nothing without a heart and mind tuned to the grace and forgiveness of a Holy God.  I LOVE the Psalms!!

(Day 36) “O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, If I have paid back with evil him who was at peace with me or without cause have robbed him who was my enemy, Let the enemy pursue my life and take it; yes, let him trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust.” Psalms 7:3-5

I am convicted by today’s Psalm.  Just before this David secures himself in the refuge that is the Lord and asks God to save him from his adversaries who seek to ‘tear his life from his body like a lion’…but then he follows up with this ‘Oath of Innocence’.  David says this, remember, from his refuge in the Lord.  There is a conviction in integrity that that he has not performed the three dishonorable acts he mentions.  Do I have this same conviction?  Can I make these same statements without fear of bringing upon myself what David suggests above?  Today, I take stock of my ‘above reproach-ness’ (yep, just made a new word) and pray that the Lord would reveal anything to me that could fall into these categories.