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Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to me, “I am your salvation.” Psalm 35:3
There are times in life when it seems the enemy of our soul has us completely surrounded. During those times everything we do seems to be a struggle.
Have we lost faith in Christ? No.
Do we believe all his promises? Yes.
But in the deep recesses of our souls that doesn’t seem to be enough. The battle for peace of heart rages between the emotion of our current reality and what we know to be fact. The trust, confidence and faith we talk confidently about becomes a cover-up for the despair, worry and heartache deep inside.
A friend of mine is going to bring his daughter to treatment this weekend. Drugs and alcohol have taken her captive. He and his wife have ‘done everything right’ in bringing her up in the church. They’ve prayed with her and for her. But she took a different route. In the mean time his parent’s health is failing and he is battling a life-threatening disease.
The prayer of David rings true. We pray that he will fight our battles, that he will brandish spear and javelin against the enemies that war against our souls and take those we love captive.
We plead with him to block the path of those who pursue us: guilt, worry, fear, bitterness, anger, fatigue (and the list goes on).
Yet in those times when it seems our very heart will be ripped from our chests, we long most of all to hear his voice reminding us, “I am your salvation.”
“I am your Salvation.” Let those words seep into the cracks of your soul. Let them linger for awhile. The battle isn’t yours. Salvation (yours or anyone else’s) isn’t your responsibility. The Great Warrior, the King of Kings, the Lord of all creation will see you to ultimate victory.
Will there be battles? Yes. Will there be dark nights in which the cold is relentless and his presence seems impossible to find? Unfortunately, yes. But during those times, if we take time to listen, if we seek him in the darkness, he speaks to the most intimate, inner corners of our hearts, “I am your salvation.”
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, during those times when I feel most alone and weakest. During those times when the battle seems too great and I feel alone, defeated and unable to see your light. Let me hear the gentle whisper of your promise that you are my salvation. Amen.
Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9 (NLT)
When you find something that works, you stay with it. After all, if ‘it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
At first glance one might think the Apostle Paul is just an arrogant Bible thumping preacher. “Just do what I do and everything will work out just fine…” But a study of the life of Paul reveals quite the opposite.
This great orator and defender of the faith says in other writings, things like:
“Not that I have already attained it, but I press on towards the mark.” (Philippians 3:12)
“All those things I want to badly to do, I don’t do. Rather I find myself involved in doing the very things I hate.” (Romans 7”15)
“For I am the least worthy of any of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9)
There are other places as well where Paul bears his soul to say, in essence, I’ve not attained the standard of living I desire in my life. I’m weak, I fail. I’m unworthy. Yet here, in Philippians 4:9 he offers a testimonial of hope to those of us who struggle on a daily basis. He encourages each of us to take a good look at reality.
Remember what you’ve learned [about your faith], he says. Too often life situations, doubts, and our own failures will lure us away from the fundamentals. A championship team in any sport is one that continually practices the fundamentals, the little things so that the victory can be won. Rarely does a team sound in the fundamentals, lose.
In the same way, Paul is telling us from his personal experience that as he has learned to follow the basics, he has seen God work in mighty ways.
Does that mean hardship won’t come? Unlikely, since Paul wrote this letter from prison.
Does that mean we won’t fail through our own weakness or outright rebellion and sin against the God we chose to love? Paul reminds us that we battle continually with the old sin nature. Only reliance on the Holy Spirit will change that.
We are instructed to be a holy people, separated unto God, to live a life above reproach. But holiness in the human realm doesn’t mean perfection, it means we deal correctly with sin as soon as it enters our life. We go to the throne of grace, confess our sin, as forgiveness, and repent (change our attitude).
Stay the course. Remember the simple truths you learned as a child, or seek them out from God’s word. Trouble will come. You will fail. Others will fail you. But as you remain true to the basic tenants of our faith (love, grace, forgiveness and mercy) the God of peace and comfort will encourage you today.
PRAYER: Father God, help me to live in such a way that I can say, as Paul says, that my walk with you has taught me the way to peace. Empower me with your Holy Spirit to live in the basic truths of my faith so that others may find the peace I have found. Amen.
Some thoughts for worship:
Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! Psalm 32:11
As the eastern sky begins to glow with the dawn of a new day, I rejoice in you my Lord. The tasks before me today are great. I’m sure there are surprises of varying degrees that await me. But my rejoicing isn’t based on the activities, events or people who cross my paths.
My rejoicing comes from you.
People change. Activities can sap our strength or go wrong. Even when they go well, they end and in their ending leave a void. People, even those closest to me can’t fulfill every corner of my soul. Sometimes, people fail me.
Not only do I rejoice in you, I’m glad because in your eyes I’m righteous. Thank you Lord that righteousness isn’t based on my ability to meet the expectations of you or others. You aren’t surprised by my weakness; others will never be satisfied with who I am. My righteousness is based on Jesus’ blood and forgiveness. Holiness, oh God, isn’t perfection, but knowing how to handle sin when it attacks me.
I sing! I sing to you my Father with words that I often can’t express in notes and words. My song comes from my heart! We fight over what songs should be sung, what instruments should be played and how ‘worship’ should be accomplished.
The best worship, O Lord is the worship of my heart. In the midst of my doubts; in the midst of my fears; when I feel overwhelmed by the tasks before me, my heart sings for I know that you will see me through if I rely on you for my strength.
Today, I rejoice in you. Not because of what lay ahead of me, but because I know you will go with me. My heart sings for I know my allegiance to you will empower me for the day ahead. Amen.
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord! Psalm 31:24 (AMP)
The amount of courage we have is dependent on what we put our hope in.
If I put my hope in my own ability to follow God I’ll be frustrated. I’m weak. I follow my own desires far too often. Selfishness sneaks up on me at the least likely time. I’m full of lust. My past haunts me.
If I put my hope in relationships I’ll be lonely. People fail us. The promise things, but fail to honor that promise. They all too often put demands on me that I can’t fulfill, or if I do fulfill them to the best of my ability, expect more.
If I put my hope in finances I fall short. Too many times that I have way too much month at the end of the money and if I do have the finances to get what I want, it’s often outdated by the end of the week.
Putting hope in religion is demoralizing. Religion puts far more expectations and demands on me than God would ever do. Churches seem to be ivory palaces full of dead man’s bones. Pretty on the outside but full of politics, judgmental attitudes and hypocritical leaders on the inside.
If I put my hope in living healthy, you know, doing the diet thing, exercising, and all the rest, someone else always seems to be trimmer or enjoying life more than I. And I still get sick. Some of the ‘healthiest people I know’ have suffered from debilitating illnesses or accidents that have robbed them of life.
Maybe you have felt some of the feelings listed above. Your strength to go on seems to have left you. Increased effort has only brought increased frustration and feelings of failure. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If we put our hope in God’s hands our frustration turns to a realization that our success has never been dependent on our ability. God has never put much hope in our ability to follow his rules, that’s why he offers me Jesus. That’s why he offers me forgiveness and grace.
He’s never measured our success by the amount of money in our bank account or the number of friends we have on social networking sites. He’s never demanded anything that he doesn’t first give us the ability to follow through on. He knows your heart. He knows your deepest fears. He knows your past and wants to walk with you into the future.
Losing hope? Frustrated? Worried? Tired of losing sleep. Have courage based on a loving forgiving God. Worship and praise him for fact that he has reached down to give you peace through his son Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Father God, there are many things that scare me today. I have lots of worries; lots of fears; failure seems to follow me wherever I go. Thank you that I can find my hope and rest in you. Help me have courage through your son Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2
What do you do when you have important information you want delivered to someone? Historically, the answer to that question would be to tell them, face to face. To announce the message personally would be the clearest, most understandable way. Messengers would be okay, but sometimes the message may be so important you couldn’t trust it to anyone else. In that case you would most likely deliver the message personally to avoid any misunderstanding.
Today of course, the rules have changed. Face to face contact is no longer necessary and can even be impossible. Still you can send a letter (spelled S-N-A-I-L M-A-I-L); you could send an email; make a phone call or text. Today’s technology makes it easy to contact most anyone at any moment.
Still, with all the technology that is out there, the best and most effective way to get your message to people so you are sure they understand is face to face contact. (For me, that is most preferably done at a coffee shop, but you may choose your own poison!
When the creator God of the universe was nearly finished with his creative work, he looked around him and said (to his Son and his Spirit), it’s not enough. I have one more creative work in me, a masterpiece that will be like none other. The angels watched in awe as the Triune God created man and woman. They marveled at the relationship the ensued in the Garden of Eden. God, Adam and Eve, walking hand in hand down the garden path. The humans listening to the love language of their creator.
When sin entered the world through that first couple, everything changed. While God still loved his ultimate creation, mankind, their sin forced him to look away. He longed for that relationship to be restored. He put a plan in place (the Law of Moses) to try to reconcile them, but that didn’t work. He spoke to them through prophets and through nature. God did everything he could to gather our attention to his desire to enjoy the love relationship we once had with him.
The urgency of the message determines the method of delivering the message. The most urgent message is relayed face to face. So that is just what he did. Time was short and his message needed to be heard. So, Creator God sent his very own son, his flesh of flesh so to speak, to send a face to face message to his beloved.
Jesus Christ was sent to deliver Gods’ message of love, forgiveness and grace. The ultimate message of love delivered in the most marvelous of ways. God with us. Emmanuel. Alleluia. When your smart phone has a message for you it says something on the order of ‘you have mail’. Jesus was sent to remind you of the message of love from your Heavenly Father.
PRAYER: Father God. Jehovah God. Daddy. I am so thankful for Jesus. So unworthy of your love, but so glad to receive your message of love, hope and forgiveness through him. Thank you for seeking me out. Thank you for sending the ultimate message of love. Amen.
