December 4 & 5, 2011 Scriptures & Thoughts

Psalm 4:3 Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.

Psalm 4:5 Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord. Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Psalm 4:6 Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O LORD.

Psalm 34:11-15 “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and keep your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.

If we love life and wish to see many good days, not just long life, but a long life full of many good days, we need to watch what we say, carefully. Out of the abundance of the heart is what the mouth speaks, and we are to keep our tongues from evil. The best way to be sure that we are speaking good and pleasing words that honor God is to abide in Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to re-new us, the power of the blood to cleanse us and the resurrection power to transform us.

We do not have to keep our tongue from evil on our own. God doesn’t expect us to do anything that He doesn’t equip us to do. God has sent His Son to pay the price for our sins, to cleanse us, and to allow us to have direct fellowship and access to Him. He has given us the Holy Spirit to comfort us, encourage us, quicken us, convict us, and to give us the power and boldness to live for Him. If we just accept all of the good things the Lord has done for us and accept all of the good gifts He has given to us, we can live a long life filled with many good days.

We are not only to keep our tongues from evil, but we are also to keep our lips from speaking lies. Two of the things we need to do, here, are regarding what we say, how we use our words. There are many verses regarding how we are to watch what we say. Our mouths are very powerful tools and James talks about how difficult it is to tame our tongues. James 3:8 “but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” Notice that James says, “no man can tame the tongue.” If we wish to have conversations that honor God and please Him, if we wish to speak truthfully and have no deceit coming from our lips, then we must allow God to be at work in our hearts and lives.

If we want to live many good days, we also need to turn from evil and do good. Verse 14 says we should not only totally turn away from evil, but we should also replace evil in our lives with doing good. When we run away from bad influences and temptations, we should run to all that is good. Replacing sin with good deeds and good attitudes will definitely have an impact for good days. We reap what we sow. We enjoy the consequences of our attitudes and actions when they are good, when they fit with God’s will, and when we allow Him to work in our hearts and lives. We do not enjoy the consequences of our actions when we are sinning, doing evil things, and are thinking and dwelling on evil.

Whether we do good or evil there are consequences and this verse tells us that if we love life and wish to have many good days, we should turn from evil, flee from evil, and do good. We are not expected to just sit around and keep ourselves from evil. We do not need to lock ourselves away and just try to stay out of trouble. We don’t have to live a boring or unsatisfying life just trying not to do too many bad things. We are shown here to turn to good and to do good. Doing good can mean many things and depending on your spiritual gifts you may find more satisfaction in one way of doing good than another. The Body of  Christ has many functions and we all fulfill a part of God’s wonderful plan.

Some ideas for doing good:

Helping widows… there are widows who are young and old, some have children, and others don’t. Helping can be anywhere from just spending some time with them, listening to them, or to taking out their trash and raking leaves. You could take them to dinner or provide some groceries. You could reach out to the homeless people, visit prisoners, minister to military families, sing, teach, or just be grateful. More ideas for doing good are reading your  Bible, being a friend to someone, and loving your children.

There are so many ways to do good, some are simple and some are more involved. But they all lead to satisfying experiences that make up many good days. A long life filled with many good days is accomplished when we allow God to work in us to help us keep our tongues from evil, our lips from deceit, and when we both turn from evil and replace it with doing good.

Also, verse 14 says we must seek peace and pursue it. We should actively look for and search out peaceful solutions to our problems. When we are having an issue with someone, we should look for a way to relate to them and resolve the situation with a peaceable solution. Our homes should have an atmosphere of peace. Our spirit, our hearts and minds should be at peace. We should pursue, chase after, and work towards peace. One of the best ways I have found to gain peace in my life is to remember Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

When God tells us to seek peace and to pursue it, He doesn’t leave it all up to us to do on our own. He has spelled it out for us right here in Philippians. If we will just come to Him with everything that is bothering us, with prayerful hears, requesting His attention, favor, intervention, for His good plan for us to take place, and if we come to Him with our anxieties, with thankful hearts, with gratitude because we know He loves us and cares for us, then He will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus with His peace.

A long life with many good days filled with the peace of God, and God’s goodness, free from evil, filled with kind and true words spoken in love, sounds wonderful to me. Lord, please help me remember what You have taught me in these verses from Your Word, from Your heart. Thank You, Lord, for Your love and care and faithfulness and for revealing Yourself, Your plan, Your will and Your love to me, to us, every day.

Robin came over and we began talking about everything going on in our lives. We talked about how God is at work in our lives and where He has brought us from and where He is taking us. We spoke of His sacrifice for us and how He gave His life for us on the cross. Robin shared with me something that God revealed to her the other day. There is a song in Spanish, “Solo Cristo,” Only Jesus – that she was singing. They had been talking in Spanish class about the difference between por and para. Por, in Spanish, means for, or in place of, or by. In the song it says, “Solo Cristo moriste por mi en la cruz.” Robin said she just always thought about it meaning “only Christ died for me on the cross.” But in Spanish, por, means more than just that Christ died for me, for my benefit. It means that He died because of me and in my place. What an awesome way to really let the depth of His sacrifice and His love sink in.

We talked about so much, shared so many insights and lessons learned and memories, good and bad. We took turns reading the Bible together, what I wrote about Psalm 34:11-15 and Robin mostly read all of Colossians. Very deep and powerful scriptures, words from our Lord. We talked about how the Bible is not just a book. It isn’t even just a love letter from our Creator, or just an instruction manual for life from our Maker. The Bible is THE WORD OF GOD – John 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word. If we want to spend time with God, know Jesus, hear from Him and experience transformation, we need to read our Bible. We need to hunger and thirst for as much time as we can get hearing God’s Word, soaking in the Holy scriptures, meditating and dwelling on His Words, the Bible, the Word, is God. There is supernatural power in the Words written in the Bible. It is definitely not just a book.

Thank You, Lord, for the precious  moments we are able to spend together, for Your restoration, for You working all things together for good for those who love You. Please cause our hearts to desire all that You desire. Help us to honor and glorify You, Lord. We praise You and only You!

December 2, 2011 Journal Entry and Scriptures

Psalm 20:10-12 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

Psalm 31:19-20 How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them from the intrigues of men; in Your dwelling You keep them safe from accusing tongues.

Psalm 32:1-2 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgive, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

“And in whose spirit is no deceit” – I believe this part of the verse is here because sometimes we know that we are wrong or not doing the right things, but we try to go on as though we are somehow hiding this from God. In the past, I have tried to avoid God in certain areas of my life, or tried to somehow cover up, keep hidden, or pretend that my problem areas weren’t there. Now, I pray over everything openly with God – how can I hide anything from God!? That is ridiculous, really. We are being deceitful in our spirit when we try to act as though we don’t need God’s help in certain areas. We are being deceitful in our spirit when we don’t confess our sins and shine God’s light on them and allow Him to completely change us and renew us for His glory.

Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

We can either try, unsuccessfully, to cover and hide our sin in darkness and continue toward destruction and death – or we can open up with God, share our problems and weaknesses with Him, ask Him for His loving help and forgiveness, and allow Him to cover our sins with the blood of Jesus to the forgiveness of our sins and the regeneration of our hearts, our minds, and our souls. Praise be to God! I choose to open myself completely to You, Lord, to bring all of me to You, to confess all of my sins and needs to You and to allow You to mold me and use me for Your glory!

Psalm 32:6-7 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You while You may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 32:8-10 (God says!) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.

Psalm 62:5-8 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my Rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty Rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:11-12 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that You, O God, are strong and that You, O Lord, are loving. Surely You will reward each person according to what he has done.

Psalm 92:12-15 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.”

November 30, 2011 Scriptures

2 Samuel 16:12 It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.

Psalm 30:1-12 I will exalt You, O Lord, for You lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to You for help and You healed me. O Lord, You brought me up from the grave; You spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the Lord, you saints of His; praise His holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” O Lord, when You favored me, You made my mountain stand firm; but when You hid Your face, I was dismayed. To You, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy. What gain is there in my destruction? in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help. You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to You and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give You thanks forever.

Psalm 60:1 When we forgot You, Lord, You rejected us and were angry with us – now restore us! 3 You showed us desperate times; You gave us wine that made us stagger. 4 But for those who fear You, You have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.

Psalm 60:11-12 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and He will trample down our enemies.

Psalm 90:17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us, yes, establish the work of our hands.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

Proverbs 30:7-9 “Two things I ask of You, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”

Proverbs 30:12 (There are) those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth.

November 29, 2011 Scriptures

Psalm 29:1-10 speaks of the glory and strength of the Lord, also the power of the voice of the Lord. V11 concludes the chapter with: “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.”

Psalm 59:16-17 But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to You; You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

Psalm 89:8 O Lord God Almighty, who is like You? You are mighty, O Lord, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.

Psalm 119:7 I will praise You with an upright heart as I learn Your righteous laws.

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.

Psalm 119:24 Your statutes are my delight, they are my counselors.

Psalm 119:34-40 Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word. Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for Your laws are good. How I long for Your precepts, preserve me life in Your righteousness.

Psalm 119:71-72 It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn Your decrees. The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

Psalm 119:73 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your commands.

Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

Psalm 119:133 Direct my footsteps according to Your Word; let no sin rule over me.

Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they who love Your law and nothing can make them stumble.

November 27, 2011 Scriptures

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 57:2 & 3 I cry out to God, Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends His love and His faithfulness.

Psalm 117:1 & 2 Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. The cure for a broken heart – we serve a good God!

Proverbs 27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.