Dwell In The Shadow Of The Lord

 

PSALM 91 KJV

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

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Dwell in the shadow of the Lord and live life abundantly!!!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

A Future Of Hope (Quit Dwelling In The Past)

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 

                                                                                    (Isa 43:18-19 KJV)

It is a good thing to consider the wrongs that we have done and to correct them if we possibly can. It is even necessary. Our past can remind us of things that we do not ever want to do again for our own sake as well as for the sake of others. Without considering our sins; without repenting of them, there is no forgiveness and we will drag those sins with us through the rest of our lives. 

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

                                                                                          (1 John 1:8-9)

It is not so good to be stuck on dwelling on memories of the past. It is not a good thing for you to allow guilt to keep you from moving forward. The past will have a lot of joyful memories. But, it will also have many not so good memories of things that we have done that we should not have done.

None of us are without sin and the sin that we cling to can and will drag us down. We all have things that we wish we could undo. But, we cannot undo what we've done. We can; however, repent and receive forgiveness. In Christ those sins are washed away. They have no power over us. We must let them go or we will live in despair as we dwell on our past leaving no room in our lives for hope for the future.

We must continue to look forward with hope for the promise of God. 

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph 2:8)

So, live life in Christ! Dwell on the promises of God. Through Christ you have been saved from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Place your faith and hope in Christ and live life in him!

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Rom 15:13)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Faith In What We Hope For

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1 NIV

The sky is falling! The church is dying! Something bad is going to happen! None of these statements are statements of faith. One day they may all be statements of fact for some people. But, dwelling on the bad instead of the good that God has done and continues to do for us really is not beneficial to the Body of Christ.

The sun is shining! Today the Lord is going to water the ground! I love worshipping God with my brothers and sisters in Christ! I get to share the Good News of the Kingdom! In Christ I can do all things! Those are statements of faith. Those are statements that will remind us and others of all the good that God has done and continues to do for us.

Let us live in faith and with hope that we will see the Kingdom of God; the glory of God. We will see him with our own eyes and not just with the eyes of faith! But, for now that is more than good enough for God's children!

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-49 NIV)

Rip! The temple curtain was torn in two. Do you recall how St. Mark described what happened after Jesus' baptism? "Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." (Mark 1:9)  So what exactly is the significance of the temple curtain being torn in two at Jesus' death?

I was taught, as a child, that it meant that we now all have direct access to God. We are free to directly communicate and relate with and to God. The High Priests are no longer needed to stand between us and God. In the Christian church on earth, it meant that regular lay people, not just the pastors and priests could approach the altar and even go beyond the altar rail without fear of God's wrath, at least not too much fear. As a child, I was taught that it was such a holy place that it was really best not for me, a young female with no business behind the altar to dare enter that area. That was just a little too much law because as Jesus died on the cross for all of us, he freed us from our sins so that we are worthy to come before God, even at the altar in a church building! That is good news, indeed!.

But, let us rejoice for there is even more to that curtain being torn than that. When a door is opened it is open to everything and everyone on both sides of the door. Behind the temple curtain was the Holy of Holies; God's earthy dwelling place. Only the High Priests could enter and have access to God.  Just as when the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus; when the temple curtain was torn the Spirit of God rushed out upon the world. God's dwelling place on earth was no longer contained to a specific place. His dwelling place; his Kingdom, rushed out into the world as Jesus breathed his very last breath. 

The Kingdom of God has come near. It is truly at hand! (Mark 1:15) Live in it!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Troubled Hearts

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:1-3 NRSV

Sometimes not allowing your heart to be troubled is a whole lot easier said than done. I spend a whole lot of time in prayer so that I can be reassured by God's presence that He is actually with me and with those whom I love. I spend a lot of time in the word so that I might be reassured of God's promise of eternal reconciliation with the One who loves me and the whole world enough to die for us.

As I consider what most troubles my heart, I find that it is concern for those who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord. My heart is most often troubled with concern for those who do not follow in "The Way." My concern is that their hearts will be indefinitely troubled. My concern is that they might never know Jesus and I know that there can be no healing for their broken hearts except in Jesus the Christ.

I can do nothing except to pray and continue to encourage, with the word, those who do not follow Jesus to turn around and follow him.

Our hearts may be troubled for others. It is perfectly right that we should have hope that our loved ones would come to know Jesus. Yet, even while we are concerned for others we can know peace in the promise that Jesus has prepared a place in his Father's house for us; for all who believe. We can be confident that he will take us safely home.

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Kingdom Comes!

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
                                                                                                                            (Matt 27:50-52 NIV)

Rip! The sound of the temple curtain being torn in two. Do you recall how St. Mark described what happened after Jesus' baptism? "Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." (Mark 1:9-11) So what exactly is the significance of the temple curtain being torn in two at Jesus' death?

I was taught, as a child, that it meant that we now all have direct access to God. We are free to directly communicate and relate with and to God. The High Priests are no longer needed to stand between us and God. As Jesus died on the cross for us, he freed us from our sins so that we are worthy to come before God. That is good news. But, I believe there is more to it than that. When a door is open it is open to everything and everyone on both sides of the door.

Behind the temple curtain was the Holy of Holies; God's earthy dwelling place. The tearing of the temple curtain signifies that with Christ's death God's dwelling place on earth was no longer contained to a specific place. His dwelling place; his Kingdom, rushed out into the world as Jesus breathed his last breath.

The gate to the Kingdom has been flung wide open. The Kingdom of God is truly at hand. Live in it!

God's Peace - Pr. J