Day 307: "Knocked Down But Never Knocked Out"

Day 307: Knocked Down But Never Knocked Out

Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 14, Hebrews 12

The Bible clearly promised it, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." Job 14:1. The Psalmist promised it, sang about it, then prayed about it, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10. Rabbi Jesus had promised it then spoke words of the greatest hope! John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; for I have overcome the world." Whether we want it or not, look for it or not, we are all going to have trouble!

Funny how life works out sometimes isn't it? Something everybody has that nobody wants is troubles! Everyone has troubles! Some of us have just come through some troubles. Others are in trouble right now. Some are headed for trouble! But, I’m glad I can take you to the second point of this message which is while we have all been knocked around, and knocked down we have not been knocked out of this Christian life. Paul in his words is essentially telling us Defeat is an attitude, Joy is a Decision. Paul exhorts the Christian church at Corinth the Christian life is tough but we are so much tougher. "You might give me a bruise, but I’m not going to lose, God has won!"

Surely, God will deliver you from trouble! Surely, our God will deliver you through the trouble! If life brings you to it, then surely God will see you through it to the victory at the end! You will absolutely come out of it in complete victory to stand back up on your own two feet once again, much greater and much stronger than before. This is not to say that your best, sole source of confidence should be just the Lord our God and yourself alone: (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up... A cord of three strands (you, a brother or sister in Christ and Jesus Christ) is not easily broken."

The long and the short of trouble is this: If you want to be distressed - look within. If you want to be defeated - look back. If you want to be distracted - look around. If you want to be dismayed - look ahead. However, if you want to be delivered - look up to see the great cloud of witnesses and Jesus who have already gone ahead and before you (Hebrews 12:1 - 2). Do not grow weary (Hebrews 12:3) "Consider him who has endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Pick yourselves up (Hebrews 12:12). So, move on, march out into the victorious life (Hebrews 12:13 - 16), for it's God who gives it (Hebrews 12:28,29)!

Let Us Pray: Sing this day the song of hope in God in times of trouble, both great and small. Look unto the heavens from whence your victory will surely come and deliver you. In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, pray yourselves through Psalm 91.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67wC6-kWWSo

Psalm 91 Song "My God, In Him I Will Trust" (Christian Scripture Praise Worship Lyrics)-Esther Mui

www.youtube.com

http://www.scripturesongsforworship.com (Listen and download word for word Scripture songs suitable for worship and effective for memorizing and meditating o...

Day 306: "He Heard My Cry From His Sanctuary"

Day 306: "He Heard My Cry From His Sanctuary"

Read: Psalm 18:4 - 19

"He heard me!" Just three simple words. But what truly amazing words they are from today's
Scripture. I know for many of you reading these words, as it is for me, those three simple words, that small, yet very profound phrase, sits and rests at the very center of your own personal testimonies. He heard my cry one night ten years ago while I was lying helplessly on the ice covered ground with a badly shattered hip completely unable to do anything for myself. I cried unto the Lord "my God, NO!" He heard my tiny cry from the deepest, remotest place of eternity! He redeemed my life from the pit that I myself had expended thirty years of energy digging with my own two hands.

I do not know, I am just kind of thinking out loud to myself right now. I know that you cannot hear what I am thinking, but I know God can. I am just wondering if you have forgotten even a tiny bit how God saved you from the pit that you dug for yourself. I pray about that right now, wondering if as you are reading this, you are remembering your own salvation story. I am wondering if there are details of it which you cannot remember - even the smallest of them. Are you right now pondering your salvation story trying to remember even the smallest of details? Are you right now praying to the God of your salvation to recall them to mind that you might sing "Thank You God?"

I can still see the mighty power of God reaching down from the depths of eternity to pluck me out of eternal depths of my pit (verses 7 - 19). Me, inconsequential me. His own, His beloved - from the grip of a slow painful icy death. It reduces me to humble tears each time I bring it to the forefront of mind. Maybe this is a universal response of the heart, knowing deep down, knowing how hard some of us try to cover it up and try to block it out, that they - that each of us so desperately need a Savior who will hear our silent cry from the quiet depths of eternity absolutely delighting in personally redeeming our existence. "From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears."

God heard David's cry for help. God heard my cry for help. Hear now, friends, the good news for yourselves: God hears your cry too. He hears even - and especially - your prayers that are uttered in sheer desperation, without eloquence or formality; the prayers that see you at an end of yourself; prayers with only a glimmer of hope that there is a God in heaven who is listening and paying attention. God, above all, knows your situation, He hears you. And above all else, He is absolutely faithful (Psalm 139:1-18, 2 Chronicles 7:14-18). There have been times when I was sure nobody was listening to the depths of my soul. But I know with a blessed assurance that God has been there all the time!

Let Us Pray: Today, personalize Psalm 17.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnztMhtUF6o
Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up [Official Music Video]
www.youtube.com
© 2006 WMG "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban, from Closer. Connect with Josh: Facebook:

Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up [Official Music Video]

www.youtube.com

© 2006 WMG "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban, from Closer. Connect with Josh: Facebook:

Day 305: "He Made My Feet Like The Feet Of The Hind..."

Day 305: "He Made My Feet Like The Feet Of The Hind..."

Read: Habakkuk 3, Psalm 18:31 - 42

Life is said to be 10% 'how you take it' and 90% 'what you make it'. Today, in life we'll see an overwhelming number of people who will move from one position to another at the drop of hat. When the circumstances get a little tough every body abandons ship. There are very few who will stay the course to get through the bad times. Fear grips the heart of the heathen with the release of every bad news article. The question is this; will we, as God’s people, stand for Christ when all around us is failing? When jobs fail, when the economy goes south, sickness strikes, the shortages occur, when 'storms' threaten our way of life, will we stand up, be counted as faithful to Christ?

Habakkuk said, "We’ve got troubles from wall to wall, but I think I will just thank God anyhow!" Yep, life is said to be 10% 'how you take it' and 90% 'what you make it.' Habakkuk knew that times were going to get difficult. The mention of the fig tree, the grapevine, the olive, the grain, and flocks represents the entire range of agricultural produce upon which the nation was dependent. The oncoming Babylonians were on a direct path to Judah, everything was just going to be unavoidably trampled underfoot. When scriptures say that in their last days, men’s hearts would be literally failing for fear their worst was yet to come. Yep! 10% 'how you take it', 90% 'how you make it'.

Notice in the passage from Psalm 18:32-33, the repetition of the word 'make': "the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights." In particular, I really, truly, deeply love verse 35: "You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great." It kind of leaves one to just sit back pondering 'why does God permit such difficulties as these to come waltzing into our lives anyway?' God makes it, we break it, so God re-makes it! From Habakkuk, I guess that God can break it to if He wants to. Sometimes He has to break to remake.

Sometimes, God has to reveal to us just what we are made of, what we are really like before He can make and remake us into what He wants us to be. What He wants us to be is made and remade more into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. Verse 33 teaches: "He made my feet like the feet of a hind and set me secure on the heights." Habakkuk 3:19 teaches us: "God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the hind's; He makes me tread on my high places." God wants to make our feet ready for His way and make us more like Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1 - 4 ESV). God wanted for David, His Prophet Habakkuk, us to have feet 100% like the hind's to live 100% Christ!

Let Us Pray: Lord, we praise you for the privilege of walking with Christ and bearing his name; for the joy that he has brought into our lives and the new sense of purpose we feel; for the true meaning, for the true direction he has given to our lives; for the true peace, for the true courage, for the true confidence to walk and scale the great cliffs as the hind does; for the true faith that he gives; for true the love that reaches out to us and by grace makes and remakes our witness and worship and our praise. We praise Jesus for for the power which lifts, how he changes lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPW2ABF-sBA

Mumford & Sons - Hopeless Wanderer (Music Video Cover)

www.youtube.com

This is a music video I have created for my Film & Video course. I hope you enjoy it, give feedback so I can improve further films seeing as this is my

Day 304: "He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease."

Day 304: "He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease."

Read: Psalm 18:20 - 27, John 3:25 - 36, Colossians 3:1 - 14

Statement of irrefutable fact: God definitely wants to have a personal relationship with each of
us. Statement of irrefutable fact: God is the God of all individual believers through His Son Jesus Christ. So He delights in us just as we delight in those we love? Irrefutable fact: the highest, most holiest experience we can ever achieve in our one lifetime is the worshipful delight of the Lord. Delighting in God is an expression of our personal, abiding, intimate relationship with Him. His delight in you is an expression of His full love for you. What should it take for contemporary Christians to more fully express the delight in God's love for them more than we express love delighting in ourselves?

This passage gives us significant insight into how we can delight in God and how He delights in us. First, 'how does one delight in God?' By ones character. From verse 20 we learn that David had integrity. Notice here that David does not say that David was a man without sin, but his heart was devoted to God. Please take the time to notice the word 'righteousness' used here. I believe this is one of David's favorite words. Righteousness as used here refers to 'obedience'. David strove hard to be obedient to the will of God. For myself, it is also here where I find myself failing the most. David continually failed God, yet He still delighted in David because he kept coming back. David kept on humbling himself! David kept decreasing himself before his God!

That's the kicker for me - returning to the Altar of God after an epic event in my life. I reflect upon a convicting verse like 2 Chronicles 7:14 'and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.' I reflect upon it and think to myself, that it surely would be an absolute delight for God, perhaps even draw an epic smile from God if in my alleged righteousness, obedience to His Living Word, I actually delighted infinitely more in returning to Him than trying to run full speed so full of me. To be a contemporary Christian who delights more in God, I must delight in me less, I must decrease myself before my God.

Then there is the incredible testimony of John the Baptist: "For this reason He must increase but I must decrease." It just reaches out and grabs me by my pride and my ego. To take this verse to its seemingly next logical conclusion says that, my delight in my own righteousness, my own delight in my epic successes, my own epic failures, must humble themselves in no uncertain terms. Basically, God is saying to all: "Get over yourselves, and do it quickly!" (Col. 3:1,2): "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."

Let Us Pray: Lord, we come as we are that we may be changed by your grace. We come with our fullness that we may be emptied. We come with our emptiness that we may be fully filled with you. We come with our darkness that we may seek your light. We come with our weakness that we may be filled with your strength. We come with our brokenness that you may make us whole again. Lord, please reveal yourself.

Lord, we come as we are, that we may be changed by your grace. We come with our lives to be filled with your power. We come with our worship to praise you forever. We come with our words "He must increase, but we must decrease" and a humble prayer that you make it so in spite of us. Lord God, we humbly come before your Altar that we may be changed by your grace. That who you are will be more fully revealed in our lives for as when Christ who is our life is fully revealed, then we will also be fully revealed with Him in glory. Through Jesus Christ, truest center of Christian life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4B43_rMC-M

with all i am hillsong Lyrics

www.youtube.com

Delight Yourself also in the Lord and He Shall give you the Desire's of your Heart - Psalm 37:4

Day 303: I am What/Who I am ONLY By The Grace Of God!

Day 303: I am What/Who I am ONLY By The Grace of God!

Read: Psalm 18:1 - 3, Ephesians 2:8 - 10

Today my friends I find myself living with a very reflective spirit. It is also somewhat troubled too. I have been reflecting on these words of David from Psalm 18 for the past couple of days now. I have always enjoyed the words to this magnificent song, I am only lately beginning to more fully plumb the depths of its meaning to me as a 'good' Christian. While he didn't come right out and say it, he is telling us just in case we, when while somewhere along the way got too wrapped up in the overwhelming busyness of daily lives just plain forgot - to remind us of the most critically important fact of the Christians life. I am what I am, I am who I am, only by the grace of God!

One of the very first reminders that comes directly upon your 'good' life living as a 'good' Christian is that first God is definitely still on sitting on His throne and there is no room for us. God is the One who is exalted here. God is the only one meant to be exalted here! Take some time to read and then re-read, reflect upon the first three verses alone. David first writes " I love you Lord,' to set the stage. He is not looking in any mirror and saying this to himself as we are so apt to do. David's saying directly to I/us today - I am what I am, I am who I am, we are what we are, we are who we are because of all the incomprehensible magnificence of God. The "I AM who I Am."

Keep plumbing the depths of those first three verses alone. These three verse reach the “high water mark” of the Old Testament. Notice how David heaps up words as he so thunderously describes what God has done for him, what God absolutely means to him. David is expressing the spaciousness of his heart, singing highest praises to the Lord. It is as though he is winding himself up, getting himself so completely psyched out, whipping himself up into such an absolute frenzy, dancing ceaselessly around room after room, outside, inside his house to accomplish one very specific purpose at one specific moment to fulfill one specific objective: Praise God! Praise "I AM who I AM"!

I cannot comprehend the magnitude of David's heart at the moment he wrote these words. It just seems to be so far, too far, from where my heart is today. I'm not at all sure I could whip up my heart into such a frenzied state. I am not even sure what it would take to do that. When you consider the incomprehensible magnitude of your own "I am what I am, I am who I am", what hard truths do you wind up discovering as you read, re-read, and reflect upon those first three verses? "If I am 'good', then God will do good things for me?" Reflect then on these words: "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through FAITH, and this is not from yourselves, but it is a gift from God!"

Let Us Pray: Loving and Gracious God, how can we thank You enough for all of what we are, all of who we are, because of the absolute All that You are? How are we to begin to plumb the depths of, comprehend all that David's heart felt when he wrote these words from this Psalm? You have gathered us in, from the east, and from the west, from the north and from the south, to be Your people. Like a loving Parent, You have sustained all of our needs - sharing Your great love with us, satisfying our thirst and filling our hunger with good things. Help us to be less like ourselves and more like You. Help us Lord, to heed Your call to live and become Your resurrection people that we might find deliverance, not through ourselves, but ONLY through Christ our Lord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJbj7BVleK8

White Flag Chris Tomlin

www.youtube.com

Chris Tomlin White Flag 2 This is a video I did for a Church Sermon I do not own the lyrics nor do I own the images I downloaded off the internet Any Copyrig...

Day 302: The "Spacious" Life

Day 302: The "Spacious" Life

Read: Psalm 18

Who can capture the well of emotions contained within the core of a grateful heart like David could? His ability to put into words the journey of his own heart is quite astonishing. Can it be any wonder that we love the Psalms so much. Focus in for a moment on verse 19 'He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. From the Holman Christian Standard Bible, that word 'broad' is translated as 'spacious' so it reads 'He brought me out to a spacious place;' We are told God brought us out into a "spacious life. How absolutely profound is that!

Think carefully about the magnitude of this. Jesus did not die to give us a great day today. NO! He died to pull us out of our "self" lives and to present us life in all of its fullness: A life to be lived for others, a life to be lived for His glory alone. When we take a prayerful look at what a "spacious" life really means, I am pleasantly reminded that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, and His redeeming grace in all our lives brings about the fullest absolute beauty of a "spacious" heart - one that has not been encumbered by the troubles of this world or by those troubles of our own lives.

A "spacious" heart has unlimited room for whatever God places in your world today, and all of it is possible only because He loves us so much and so completely. So when you hear the voice of someone who wants to cut you down to size, who wants you to be "realistic" and not get carried away with grand ideas and plans to make a tiny bit of a difference in this world, I hope you will realize that it is not God's voice. His plans are "spacious"! His plans are perfect and will always increase one way or another. Pray on this, because the Father delights in us - He delights in you, He delights in me! He longs for us to come to Him, to live in Him, to accomplish all that He has designed!

Now, that is a large, spacious life to try to live indeed! And this path of life is not just intended for a few lucky ones. No way! No how! It is intended for every man woman and child. No one gets left out. All inclusive! God’s love for all knows no bounds. He fills everyone's life with blessings and watches over them as though they were the only person alive who He loved. His every thought is good toward all and God wants to pour out a blessing on all His people that no one can ever possibly hope to contain. God the Father delighted in his Son at Creation. In all the spaciousness that God did bring forth, Father delighted in his Son through his human life. In all the spaciousness that God did bring forth, God delights in all His children. All thanks be to God!

Let Us Pray: Gracious Father, when I find myself getting comfortable with a cluttered and complicated life, help me to experience the "spacious" life that Your Living Word promises. Help me to pull myself back from the fullness of my own complacency and pride. Help me to more fully live within the "spacious" places where Your grace and Your forgiveness are to be found. Exile me if you must. Send me unto one of David's caves if that is what's necessary to help me more fully appreciate Your "spacious" life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4v5rbGHQp8

Hillsong UNITED Tapestry Lyric Video

www.youtube.com

Tapestry Lyric Video. To buy Zion: http://hu.cta.gs/zion To unlock music videos: http://hu.cta.gs/ZionisHere More info: http://www.hillsongunited.com

Day 301: The One Name, The One Power To "Break Every Chain."

Day 301: The One Name, The One Power To "Break Every Chain"

Read: Acts 12:1 - 11

For those who come to read this, my heart is a heavy one today. My spirit is greatly grieved on behalf of a dear Christian friend and brother in Christ. I will call him Jeff just for the sake of this writing. He is in a hard, tough spot in his faith journey. Until last Wednesday, he was the Lay Leader (chief Laity representative) of his church. I have found out through an ultra reliable source that he and his two young children had come under brutal verbal attack from within the membership of his church. It had been going on for some time against him personally and only lately came against the children. He has resigned his Lay Leader role, and perhaps, like Peter here, feeling imprisoned.

In this text we see that Peter has been placed in a seemingly hopeless situation. He has been arrested by Herod and placed in prison, awaiting his trial to take place after the passover. But in the midnight hour, when it seemed that all hope was gone, God showed up and showed out, and made a "Miraculous Rescue". I wonder today, how many of us that are here have been through or in a situation like Peter’s? That is an extraordinary situation where, for reasons entirely not of our own doing, entirely on the outside of our ability to control, in spite of our best efforts to fight it off and settle the matter like 'all good' Christians should, we just find ourselves being rebuked and inevitably spiritually imprisoned.

The truth be told, I believe that many of us, at one time or another, have been exactly where Peter was and where I strongly believe my friend Jeff is right now. He is so in love with the Lord. I have studied with him and know his heart, a wonderful father, and a strong leader of his congregation. However, folks at the church have turned on him. At study last night he was very distracted. I'm finding myself praying to God for one of those miraculous rescues we read about in the Bible, like the one here from Acts 12. I am praying for one of God's angels to miraculously show up, lead my friend away. I'd also ask for God's Church here as well, just please pray for Jeff's miraculous rescue.

I find myself wondering, praying about if the greatest thing a human being can ever experience is to be in a situation where it seems completely hopeless and doomed, yet God miraculously steps in and rescues you from it? I say this after prayerfully considering the biblical definition of rescue meaning to be 'delivered'. Deliverance meaning that we are 'set free' from the chains securely fastening us to the floor of our prison cell. To be delivered means you don’t have to deal with the bondage of that issue anymore! It means to be "loosed from". Peter was loosed from his chains and his shackles, in a way that could only be done by God. He not only frees you, but looses you completely!

Let Us Pray: Lord, I ask for Your Church to arise this day in prayer for all those, who like Your servant Peter, find themselves locked behind prison walls for their beliefs. Lord, I ask for Your Church to rise up in prayer for those people, like my friend Jeff, who find themselves essentially spiritually imprisoned. Compelled to confront a time of greatest challenge to their's and their families well being. I fervently pray unto You for one of Your angels to come alongside of him in this dark hour. I pray that together with Your angel and by Your great power through which did resurrect Your Son Jesus from the prison of the grave, did roll away the stone, did loose Peter's chain, opened those prison doors, allowed them to walk past the ever vigilant guards, to the outside of the prison where iron gaits miraculously opened to his freedom beyond the prison walls.

Lord, You came to set the prisoners free. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, please come to my friend in a powerful and miraculous way, For Your servant, Jeff, if he has found favor in Your sight set him free from this hard bondage as only You can. For I steadfastly believe that if You set them free, they are so absolutely free indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNlasvUFNbQ
Break Every Chain w/ lyrics - Jesus Culture
www.youtube.com

Break Every Chain w/ lyrics - Jesus Culture

www.youtube.com