Psalms 146:1,2 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O My soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praises to my God while I have being…

I love these two verses. Four times the word Praise is used. The first time is a genuine expression of simple worship of God
The second time, he is calling on all the parts of his body, both seen and unseen to unite together to Praise the Lord. He is calling on his brain and his thoughts; he is calling on his flesh and body; he is calling on his heart and his emotions; he is calling on his will and his ambitions; he is calling on strengths, gifts and talents to unite together as one to Praise the Lord. He does NOT want to be half hearted or only partially involved. He wants it to be in whole-hearted praise.
Next, he also does not want to be ‘on and off’ again in his praise. He wants his praise to be continuous, ‘as long as I live’.
Lastly, I get the impression that until his dying breath, he will praise the Lord. “I will sing praises to my God WHILE I HAVE BEING….” Not only will he be praising the Lord, but he will do it with song. “I will SING PRAISES…”
Throughout the day, at various times, temptations will come along with various accusations from the evil one. If I don’t control either the temptations or the accusations, I will inevitably fall into sin. One way to overcome these attacks is through PRAISE. Psa. 22:3 says, “…The Lord inhabits the praises of His people…” When I intentionally start singing a praise song to God, my whole being can quickly come under submission to a Spirit-led song of praise. Satan hates this and will flee. God will envelop our minds and thoughts and we can quickly get re-calibrated back to spiritual things. It ‘gets our heads back into the game’; it snaps us out of the Satanic stupor that leads to sin and broken relationship with God.
If you haven’t memorized a verse in a while, this would be a good one to work on. Say it out loud 5-8 times. Within 3 minutes you will have it memorized.

4056 days ago Comments Off on With My Dying Breath… Psa. 146:1,2 PERMALINK

Psalms 100:4,5 Bless His name, for the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever

Love and marriage, horse and carriage, soup and sandwich, Thelma and Louise, all are ‘famous’ word pairings. When it comes to speaking of the word “LOVE” in scriptures, there is another word closely associated it, even ‘paired’ with it. It is the word STEADFAST. Over 200 times in Scriptures the phrase STEADFAST LOVE is used. The constant repetition of this phrase is intentional for our sake.

We are so frail and so forgetful, that the Evil One constantly challenges us with his deceptions that God doesn’t love us anymore; or that we can lose His love; or that God suddenly stops loving us because of our sinful actions; or that when something ‘bad’ happens to us or a loved one, that it is proof that He doesn’t love us anymore. BALDERDASH! Over 200 times God is trying to tattoo this great truth onto our souls and under our eyelids, “MY LOVE IS A STEADFAST LOVE”. My love for you is not whimsical. It is not fleeting. It is not fickle. My love for you is a steadfast, immoveable love. My love for you is incomprehensible. My love for you is a heavenly love, not of this world kind of love. It is based on my very essence, “For God IS LOVE”

We are to bless the Lord and to give thanks to Him because He is good AND because His STEADFAST LOVE endures forever. This is a statement that repeats itself. The nature of divine steadfastness is eternal. When the Scripture repeats the same thought in the same sentence, it is a reinforcement of truth. HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

I worry and wonder sometimes after a choice to sin whether God could still love me. I ask, “Can I still come back to You?” “Is there forgiveness with You?” “Can You overlook my sin (again)?”

In Psalms 52, the Psalmist says, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I TRUST IN THY STEADFAST LOVE forever.” This is what made David great in God’s eyes. He really understood this truth about God. Even after severely ‘blowing it’ with Bathsheba, he prayed, “Have mercy on me O God, according to Thy STEADFAST LOVE, have mercy on me…” David knew that divine forgiveness and mercy were available to him because of God’s STEADFAST, non-fickle, LOVE. He trusted in it. WE too are challenged to have this same kind of trust in God’s STEADFAST LOVE.

4057 days ago Comments Off on God’s Steadfast Love Psa 100:5 PERMALINK

Come Into His Presence with Singing Psa 100:2

Psalms 100:2 Come into His presence with singing…

This is another ‘challenge’ verse for me. When is am ‘in the Spirit’, truly walking with the Lord with my mind ‘set on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God’, this command is not so hard. Over the past year though, it seems that the cares of this world, general anxiety over the state of the world, the decline of our country, the obvious bias of all major media outlets, the increasing lawlessness in our society, etc., leads me to not want to sing.

For me, singing involves more of my being than simply praying. When I sing, my voice gets involved. Most of the time, I have to think about the lyrics and then ultimately, my heart gets involved. This is precisely what the Father wants. He wants all my HEART, soul, mind and strength.

Matt Redman has a new song out called ‘10,000 Reasons’. It’s an excellent song with an easy flowing melody. Yesterday, I played it over and again 10-15 times, intentionally trying to memorize the words to the song. This song and others like it, give me words to sing when I am in the presence of God. Check it out:

Singing puts me in a spiritually proper frame of mind. I envision myself actually ‘performing’ for the Father. The question is ‘what type of song am I singing?’ Is it a song of lament? Is it a whining song of complaint? Is it a joyful and happy song? Is it a song of gratitude and thanksgiving? Is it a song of praise? David sang all kings of songs to the Father. He poured out his heart to Him and God delighted in them.

Father, help me to sing to You. Help me to pour out my heart to you.

4057 days ago Comments Off on Come Into His Presence with Singing Psa 100:2 PERMALINK

Psalms 100:3 …” It is He that made us and we are His, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture…”

Notice the word “His” in this verse. Because God made us, He owns us by divine ‘right’. When you ‘create’ something, you ‘own’ it. We are His people. We are the sheep of His pasture. In the secular world, we have both national and international ‘copyright’ laws to protect the ownership rights of creative works.

Not only does God ‘own’ us by virtue of creation; He also ‘owns’ us because He bought us. We were ‘sold’ into slavery due to sin. When Adam sinned, and subsequently, we all sinned, Satan became our Father. We transferred our rightful place originally given to us by the Creator, and gave it away to Satan. Just like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of porridge, Adam sold our birthright for a bite from the forbidden fruit.

The redemption price was pure and sinless blood that man was unable and unwillingly to pay. When Jesus, the sinless Son of Man, came, lived without sin, then willingly sacrificed His life for our sin, the purchase price for our souls was paid. We were ‘redeemed’. God bought us back. Now, we are twice owned. Ownership was first by creation and then secondly, by the blood of Jesus. 1 Cor. 6:18-20 says, “Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you… Isa 44:22

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” Gal. 3:13

Praise God that He is our Redeemer. Praise God that we are NOW His possession.

4059 days ago Comments Off on God OWNS Us Psa. 100:3 PERMALINK

Found a great article on FACEBOOK, written by Matt Walsh. He ridicules modern “health” and ‘sex-education teachers for their foolishness and culturally corrosive explanations about ‘casual sex’. LOVED it… well done Matt!
******************************************
Matt Walsh: Abstinence is unrealistic and old fashioned

Shocker: Matt Walsh knocked it out of the park again.
His latest, “Abstinence is unrealistic and old fashioned”
From my inbox, an email from a high school student named Jeremy:
“Dear Matt, first I want to say I really like your blog. One of my teachers actually mentioned it in class once after you wrote something (she didn’t mention it in a good way lol) and I went and looked you up so I’ve been following you ever since. I know you get so much email so I don’t expect you to see this but in case you do I wanted to get your opinion about something. You write a lot about relationships and everything so I’m wondering if you think abstinence should be encouraged in school?
Reason I’m asking is because we are doing our sex ed lessons in health class now and the topic has come up. Yesterday my health teacher was talking about safe sex and someone mentioned abstinence and she said it wasn’t realistic. She said it was an out dated way of thinking and the people who push for it are out of touch because they were probably kids a long time ago. She said sometimes sex can be more casual and isn’t always a part of something serious. Then she asked how many people in the class are sexually active because she said it was important for people not to be ashamed. Almost all the guys in class raised their hands but I didn’t. They were all talking about how sex doesn’t have to be something for marriage or long term relationships. I always wanted to wait for marriage and I hope it’s not weird for me to say that. They said in class that we should be more accepting of sexual expression that doesn’t conform to older ideas. But I still always wanted to wait for marriage. But at this point I feel like an outcast or something.
I read something you wrote about dating once and it seemed like you were saying that people should wait for marriage [to have sex]. What do you thinkabout what my teacher said? Am I weird for not really wanting to go out and hook up with girls and stuff and instead wait for marriage?”
Dear Jeremy,
Yes, it’s weird for you to want to wait until marriage. In spite of the hyper-sexualization of our culture; in spite of society’s decaying moral sensibility; in spite of all of the messages that bombard you every day through every available medium; in spite of the pressure from your classmates; in spite of the bullying from that fool of a “health teacher,” you STILL stand tall and resolve to save yourself for your future wife.
Man, that is weird. It’s also awesome, inspiring, courageous, and extraordinary. Not to mention, Jeremy, you’re doing the RIGHT thing. You’ve got more character than most adults in this country, and you should be commended for it.
Speaking of adults without character, please ignore everything your “health teacher” says on this subject. I have to put quotes around her title because it doesn’t sound like she’s doing much in the way of teaching, and whatever she’s blabbering about has very little to do with “health.” She seems to think there’s a “safe” way for emotionally immature juveniles to have casual sex. Maybe she’ll follow up this performance by advocating “safe drunk driving.”
Dude, I had to go outside and breathe a little before I even attempted to write back. There is so much I want to say about this woman and the nonsense she spews. In any other context, an adult would probably find themselves on a statewide registry if they went up to a bunch of kids and asked about their sex lives. But this was “educational,” so it’s cool. The most charitable possible interpretation I can muster is that she’s an overgrown gossipy teenager who thinks she’s at a slumber party. “OMG you guys! So who here has had sex??? Let’s play truth or dare!!!!” A less charitable translation of her actions would lead me to the conclusion that she was actively attempting to pressure and humiliate people like you. And not just you, Jeremy. You said every guy in the class raised their hands? Yeah, a lot of them were lying, because that’s just the sort of thing dudes lie about.
So, Mrs. Health Teacher has singlehandedly declared sexual morality dead, has she? With one scoff and wave of her wand she’s buried thousands of years of insight into the topic? Anyone who advocates such things must be “old” and “out dated”?
Hmmm. Well, this tattooed 27 year old former DJ happens to be on your side, man.
God forgive me, I’m not old fashioned at all. I don’t think you are, either. Truth only seems old fashioned nowadays because we’ve grown so accustomed to deceit and manipulation. But Truth is eternal, so it can never be old or new. It never ‘was’ or ‘will be.’ It just ‘is.’ It always ‘is.’ Truth never grows old, and if you believe in it and try to live by it, you will always be, in some ways — the only ways that matter — the youngest, freshest, most energetic rebel on the block.
So here’s the point, Jeremy:
Our culture tells a lot of lies about sex. Your teacher is one of the liars.
There’s plenty of ignorance on the subject. Plenty of confusion. But it’s the lies I hate. The lies that come from people who know better. The people who have made mistakes and now encourage others to make them, too.
You could ask any married person who slept with other people before meeting their spouse (I wouldn’t recommend actually asking this, I’m just trying to illustrate a point here): are you happy about it? Are you glad that you gave yourself to someone other than the person you now love eternally? If you could go back to those times, would you stop yourself?
Was it worth it?
Really, was it worth it?
Do you wish you could say that your spouse is the only person who has experienced these intimate, sacred moments with you? Are you proud that there are other men or women in the world who have seen this side of you? Are you satisfied that what you give to your spouse is now secondhand?
If they tell you they feel happy or neutral about the fact that they gave themselves to someone other than their spouse, you’re dealing with someone in a very dysfunctional marriage. Any honest person in a healthy relationship would tell you they’d erase those moments from their lives if they could. They can’t, of course. Nobody can. We can’t live in the past and harp on our mistakes, but this all leads to an important point: the myth of “casual sex” persists, even though many of us — millions and millions — have seen it for what it is. Marriage as an institution is in rough shape, but people still do get married in this country. That means millions have had to look at their spouse and say — probably silently in their own heads, deep in their subconscious — “I have nothing new to give to you.”
It’s a tragedy, really. It’s a shame. You deal with it and you move on, but “casual sex” has taken its chunk and you’ll never get it back.
Yet few will speak against the predators and perverts in media, Hollywood, and Academia who promote this “casual sex” deception. There should be armies of people opposing it, but instead there is only a small, fringe group of cultural insurgents; the ones we point and laugh at and accuse of having a “boring” and “outdated” view of sexuality.
This is another lie. Casual sex proponents are the ones who have turned sex into something trivial, banal, utilitarian, pointless, joyless, one-dimensional, lifeless, lonely, and disappointing. How could the ones who hold it as sacred also be the ones who make it “boring”? No, it’s mainstream culture that’s made sex boring. It’s mainstream culture that is, in fact, afraid of sex. That’s why we spend so much energy shielding ourselves from every natural aspect of it, other than the physical sensation itself.
And the ones who believe it to be so much more than that are the ones who make it “boring”? THEY are the ones who are afraid of it? They embrace all of it, every part of it, and they are the ones who “hate sex”?
Ridiculous. Casual sex is a lie. It’s a lie that rests on lies and breeds lies and turns people into liars.
We’re told that we are sexually “liberated” if we throw ourselves at strangers and give ourselves over to people who couldn’t possibly care less about us. This is yet another lie. If modern attitudes about sex have “liberated” us, what, precisely, have we been freed from? Security? Commitment? Trust? What, we’ve broken the Shackles of Purity and Love and run gleefully into the Meadows of Pornography and Herpes? Because that’s all that our sexual liberation has wrought. A lot of confusion, a lot of porn, a lot of disease, a lot of emotionally desperate, psychologically battered, spiritually broken people wandering around, searching for another stranger who’s willing to go in for a few more rounds of sterile, shallow, pointless sex.
Let freedom ring, right?
Libertas, madam Health Teacher!
It’s quite interesting, though. Casual sex has liberated us, yet casual sex produces so many regrets. The landscape is rife with people who have felt the sting of our “hook-up culture.” But where are the people who regret abstinence and monogamy? Sure, some people, while married, think they regret having not “played the field.” Then they play it. And then they learn what regret really feels like.
Even the term “casual sex” is insane. It’s an oxymoron. Denim is casual. Restaurants can be casual. Casual: without serious intention, careless or offhand, informal. A high-five is casual. Sex can only be viewed in this same vein once we have dehumanized ourselves enough to see human sexuality as something no more significant than a pair of jean shorts.
Describing sex as “casual” is like describing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as a “nice little doodle.” That’s what I can’t stand — the people who diminish and cheapen sex are the ones who get to pass themselves off as “sexually enlightened.”
It doesn’t surprise me that your crackpot health teacher pulled out the “sexual expression” line. She teaches in our schools yet she doesn’t even understand the words she speaks. To “express” means to SAY something. It means you are indicating something of meaning. When you “express yourself” you are conveying a message about your thoughts, feelings, and character. So shouldn’t we, rather than encouraging sexual expression for the sake of it, encourage MEANINGFUL and POSITIVE sexual expression? In the context of commitment and loyalty, sex expresses something. It expresses: “I love you. I give myself to you.” But what does casual sex express? “Use me and I’ll use you.”
That’s an expression, alright. An awfully sad, pitiful expression. You’re right to have no interest in going down this road.
It sounds like you want to express a different message: self-respect and maturity; honesty and integrity; patience.
And, when the time comes, you’ll express love. Then, you’ll be able to say that you only ever expressed this sort of love to the one person who deserves it. And you’ll both be better for it.
So, in summation, your health teacher is full of it.
You’re on the right path. You’re a rebel. Keep going.
Thanks for writing,
Matt
************
Find Matt on Facebook.
Twitter: @MattWalshRadio

4059 days ago Comments Off on Abstinence is Unrealistic and Old Fashioned! PERMALINK

Psalms 146: 7,8 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The Psalmist is prophetically describing the ministry of Jesus. When Jesus stood up in the temple, he quoted from Isa 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound…”

These verses provide the HOPE for those who are oppressed, hungry, imprisoned and blind. The LORD is the rescuer, provider and healer of all.

From the world’s perspective, being a white male, living in America, possessing a college education and living in a home whose mortgage is owned by a bank; I am neither oppressed, hungry, a prisoner or blind. Yet from a spiritual perspective, I AM oppressed by the evil one and by sin. I AM hungry for righteousness. I have been and continue to fight against being a slave to ‘various passions and pleasures’, particularly lust. Like Samson, I fight the spiritual blindness brought on by lust. There always seems to be a multi-dimensionality to all of the Scriptures.

The impoverishment and needs of my soul can only be met through the saving, rescuing, healing touch of Christ in my life. The Gospel of Jesus sets my soul free. Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law and in Him; I have been set free. Jesus said that soul nourishment is from Him. He promises that by coming to Him, I will never hunger and thirst again. Paul prayed that the eyes of my heart would be open…

Whether spiritually or physically impoverished and needy, the divine answer is to be found in Jesus.

4059 days ago Comments Off on Physical and Spiritual Needs… Psa 146:6 PERMALINK

Psalms 146: 5 Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose HOPE is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever

“…Who keeps faith forever…” This is an interesting phrase. A search of 15 other translations has a number of different expressions. They range from: “He is faithful forever”; “He is true”; “He is loyal forever”; and “He always keeps His word”; and “His promises are true forever”.

The truth is this. God is trustworthy. He says what He means and means what He says. Psalms 145 says, “The Lord is faithful in all His words…” Rom 3:3 says, “What if some were unfaithful, does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!!!”

I find this to be especially comforting. When I sin and blow it, my first thought is this. Will God forgive me? Can I come back into fellowship with Him? Immediately a battle starts taking place in my mind and thoughts. Our adversary Satan immediately says, “NO, you have just exceeded your lifetime portion of grace and forgiveness. God is so sick and tired of your sinning that you may as well pack it in and quit. Just give up, you know you will sin again…”

While this is going on, another voice, the inner voice of the Holy Spirit brings to mind the precious Scriptures, the unfailing, true Truth.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lam 3:22,23) He brings to mind 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness…” The Spirit brings to mind James 5:16 “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effect.”

Praise God that He is trustworthy and faithful. Praise God that my consistency or lack thereof has NO bearing on His character. I am fickle. He is constant. “He keeps faith forever…”

4060 days ago Comments Off on He Keeps Faith Forever Psalms 146:5 PERMALINK

Heb 3:13 Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called today, lest none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin

Recently, a beautiful, young, military wife, married for three years with one baby, called and talked with me about her marriage. She had ‘caught’ her husband looking at porn on the family computer. It was NOT the first time. In their last communications, he expressed hesitancy about their relationship, even using the ‘D’ word for divorce! She was blind-sided and shocked. In the course of listening to her pain, through her tears she said, “He is not the same man I married. How could he even think about abandoning us? How could he be so ‘hard’?”
The wife of a senior officer called and wanted a meeting with my wife and I. She sounded desperate and needed someone to talk to. She had found the computer history and secret files that her husband had placed on their computer. It was full of porn. He denied it, lying to her. He was mad that he had been discovered. He too used the “D” word. In listening to her pain and the anguish of soul, she said, “He is not the same man I married. I would have NEVER guessed that this was going on in his life. How could he abandon our children and me? How could he be so ‘hard’?”
Both cases are heart breaking. In both cases, the wives were shocked and confused. Sadly, in both cases, today’s verse applies. The sad but clear truth is that SIN HARDENS the heart. It always has and always will. The one involved in sin may be enjoying the ‘fleeting pleasures of sin for a season’, and may think that they can successfully hide their sin. But ‘God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, he also reaps’. One of the natural consequences or fruit of sin is a ‘hard heart’.
We desperately need each other. We need buddies who love us enough to tell us the truth. We need buddies who will pray for us and who will be uncompromising when it comes to sin. We need buddies that we can confess our sins to and who will pray for us. The lack of buddies will lead to comfortableness with sin. The results of this are deadly: broken marriages, fatherless children, and a breakdown of families leading to further deterioration of the culture.

4062 days ago Comments Off on Hardness of Heart Heb 3:13 PERMALINK

2 Min Spot: Passions of the Flesh

4062 days ago Comments Off on 2 Min Spot: Passions of the Flesh PERMALINK

2 Min Spot: Porn Hardens our Emotions

4062 days ago Comments Off on 2 Min Spot: Porn Hardens our Emotions PERMALINK