Monthly Archives: May 2021

Devotions Near End of Psalm 3- 5/31/21

Posted on by
2

Arise, O Lord; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. Psalm 3: 7 NKJV

That phrase in that song that is a psalm (I think I will only touch on part of that verse since we do not need to include that one above, the last of Psalm 3). Salvation belongs to the Lord…

What does that mean…..?

And why was the song “The Battle belongs to the Lord” written, and what does that mean?

I think we just might find this out!

Also Note: I do know the answer just something to grab your attention!

Let’s pick apart the beginning: “Arise O Lord Save me, O my God!”

The writer seems to want to be rescued! From what? Maybe from death but is crying out for the Lord to rescue him from his situation!

A lot of times we need to be rescued. Maybe we cry out to be saved from sin. Maybe we cry out because we think God should rescue us from the peril we put ourselves in…!

But all we know is we need God. We need the Lord.

“For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.“…. hmm

Could this be something physical? I honestly don’t know, haha!

This could be a battle that David actually fought. All I know is God did something in His power and was not much or was little of David.

David had to see what the power of the Lord would do. He had to be weak in order for the Lord’s strength to be strong!

We must not see that strength is of ourselves alone. We must not feel that we are perfect, at least we must know that the “Perfector” in our lives is the only one changing us day to day! To all the glory be to Him and not to us or through us.

And we must know that there is a “battle” every day. But it is not a physical battle (violence), but we must recognize that every day that it is actually a spiritual battle…!

Here is a verse:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” KJV from Ephesians 6:12.

It means that we must not be like our old selves or what we were like before Christ (or to be love and not work in other ways, like to be hateful. “Be Love”).

We should pray for our enemies, not rise up and overpower them, we should be love like the Lord, not be angry and fight people not knowing what is going on, we must hope that the hopes we have will one day open the eyes to people to see His love…!

Because salvation and the battle truly belongs to our God. “Salvation” belongs to the LORD. Amen.

The Call- 5/31/21

Posted on by
Reply

Some people realize there is a need

A need to save but they know not what to do

Many will realize that those people are brave

Braver than they think what love can do

Some think that they just answered a “call”

A call to help their country and follow men (and women)

But others don’t know the vast protection

one group one team can do: fall let those keep risen

When hearing the horrors

Some step up

When heeding the warnings

Some pray and don’t give up

Anyone can be “like” a soldier

It takes though God-filled and something deep in honor to be willing

to answer the call…..

Thank you to all people who ever served and sacrificed so we can continue to live: you are our true essential people who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I pray your bravery will be remembered and live on in us fellow people every day by reading of those stories. And may they never be forgotten by vanity.

Devotions Psalm 3-5/30/21

Posted on by
Reply

I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around. Psalm 3:5-6 NKJV

Ever had people get, for complicated reasons, mad at you? Ever realize that those people were because of the result of spiritual warfare?

Over the years it partially gave me a lot of emotions. And one time those emotions were getting way too much and were overwhelming.

When you have people coming after you and you just want to live for God, in a way it is a good thing to have spiritual warfare. It means you’re not sitting at home and doing nothing!

God loves when we have something like Satan rivaling what we are trying to do. He’d rather we be that way than to in our hearts and actions be seen as “lukewarm.” (Revel. 3:15-16)

Just because of that, it is secretly a good thing that God blesses.

I’ve had scary stuff happen as a result of spiritual warfare. About fifteen years ago after stopping taking my meds I took the full dose. I should have weaned myself onto them because after I took them again, hallucinations came back tenfold!

Though I may not have looked frightened I was because there were horrible things happening and I felt I couldn’t even speak to my own mother during them!

I just suffered. Yet though my mother was with me during one, I felt alone in my problem. I somehow, emotionally and as if she weren’t there, felt I was completely alone. And that was so disheartening….!

From then on things just quietly got exponentially worse, it seemed. But through it all I knew God was still there. He still loved me!

He knew what was on my heart. He also knew that I was still kind and caring even while my own church had doubts about my intentions about things.

Satan even wanted a wedge between me and people I loved and cared about too!

So what I am saying believer reader is that in any circumstance we may be facing, there might seem to be thousands that are fighting against us, but if we have the confidence in God through Christ, amazing and wonderful things could happen.

We must trust (Wow, that word hit me again last night talking to a believer!). Not trust in our own circumstances but trust in Christ.

Amen.

Devotions Psalm 3- 5/29/21

Posted on by
Reply

Wow I am humbled by things about David. I never sent a man to war to die but man was I a spiritual struggler in the heart about stuff…

From the bible NKJV:

LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” (Selah_) But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill. (Selah) Psalm 3:1-4

Have you ever struggled and tough stuff just continued? I can give you examples of that but also I can also tell of times I struggled a different battle and I cried out to God so loud and I knew He had heard me.

From a worldly perspective a person who is in peril or problems people think they should just accept their “fate” and be done with life. Or they think “Oh, that person apologized? Off with their head (Well not that dramatically, but you get what I mean)!”

We live in a strange demeaning as well as seek and destroy type of culture here in America. Everything has to be protested. People must be angry about anything they see day to day or else no one will be able to understand why they are so mad.

A woman online wanted a restaurant shut down because Caucasian people were making Korean or Asian types of food. It made her furious (on Twitter, bet you didn’t see that coming…..? sarcasm) and because of cultural appropriation, some “rule” where people who are actually in and a part of the culture have to actually be the ones showing that culture she wanted the place gone since those people were doing something she saw as wrong.

Sometimes if people don’t get what they want they will get more people to fight alone with them. They will “increase” their numbers so more will see their plight and join in.

It is bad to publicly apologize it seems nowadays. Because others think it’s like you exposed a vein in your neck and so ones will say “Welp, they admitted it, let’s ‘bleed them dry’!”

There seems to be no accepting, forgiveness, and love, at least in most of the news.

Is it just the Lord who forgives now…? At least people had some form of values in the past. Forgiving was seen as a nice thing. It may not have been real biblical forgiveness seen in this culture in America but at the very least on shows in television, etc., there was media publicly “practicing” it!

Life, love, freedom from peril (at least for a while), and seeking the Lord for a dwelling place with Him was something David was all about!

Apparently it says in my bible that he wrote Psalm 3 while fleeing from Absalom who was getting ready to usurp the throne from David!

David was a king in Israel but fell after letting himself be tantalized by lusts. He went out of his way (!) to get onto the roof of his house and peered over in hopes of seeing something. He saw Bathsheba, nude.

Then he coveted in his heart, I must take her. I want her! After doing many awful things including sending a man to war to die who was her husband, he then took her for himself.

After God punished David, now he was facing consequences. His family as a result of His punishment was thrown into chaos, violence, and some death! David walked every day knowing this happened because of the awful things he did while reflecting a king (a knower of the Lord) in Israel.

If you are curious about David’s plight, read 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel in the bible: It is both amazing and sad to read the things that happened in his life!

So maybe ones David suggested said “There is no help for him in God.” had a shallow view that a lot of people felt in Israel. But that was something that Israelites did towards people who didn’t deserve any form of punishment. This was David!

King David was facing consequences for his actions. He was still being protected by the Lord (the “shield”) being His glory and being the one who “lifts up” his head when he was feeling overcome and weary by circumstances. He probably felt afraid yet encouraged that the Lord somehow was still with him, terrified at the actions he had were now turned into patterns he was facing because of his sin, and maybe humbled that He cried out to God and was heard from the “holy hill.”

Have you ever cried out to God from your circumstances? I have. I was so deep in sin I wanted some way out. I got so fed up with myself and had no one in my family to turn to so instead I threw myself onto my bed and, not just yelled to God, I cried out so loud!

I am known as a usually “quiet” person but in this case I yelled in desperate prayer so loud in my head I think the heavens heard me!

I realized after that moment I didn’t just pray to God but lamented, poured out my spirit, and I screamed because I found out I was broken and could not live without Christ.

Have you ever heard of Roman culture? The people there had many desires towards others who were winners of battles. Immoral, feelings, lusts towards the ones who won. The human body is an amazing thing but ones should not look intimately or ponder about it for too long…

Well I was like David as I coveted in my heart and had thoughts I knew were not good. I also went “out of my way” to see them, not just imagine them!

Recently a bunch of months back I checked out a “figure” online. That one was just like Bathsheba! I heard that something controversial had happened and a person who was active on social media was actually secretly on the side sharing vids and images to someone they didn’t know. I had heard for a while there was some content that people could possibly find online, so I went and sook that person out. Then I desired. Wanted. Thought I “needed” that person though it was just lustful thoughts.

Man was that wrong! It was disgusting. Messed up. And I realized that all I did was give in to stuff that was seemingly seductive in its so-called “best” places and yet actually demonic in its worst places…!

And then I battled and fought a lot not just against staying away but internally in my heart as well.

Wow this has ended up more humbling than I thought it would be! I started writing this not thinking I would share about the blog note above.

So apply your life to Psalm 3. Think of what you’ve learned. Take time to read the bible for your own spiritual life!

And also know we must live for good not because we seem good but because God makes us better and better through his Son Jesus every time we ask Him to help us! Whether we are asking for forgiveness or guidance, or if we need Him for the first time! Jesus will come and rescue you.

Cry out and He will answer you, if you are truly sorry…

Devotions Finishing Psalm 2- 5/28/21

Posted on by
Reply

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth, Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:10-12 NKJV

Wisdom is applied knowledge. Have you ever used what you know and put it to good use? I don’t know how many times I have been the opposite. That didn’t help with growth, as after a while it was like going in circles.

We should apply to our lives what we know and use it to mature otherwise we will not be helped by fully living for God.

The first part of the tenth verse says to be “wise, O kings.” If we know Jesus we must also know we are special to God also. We are like royalty.

The kings here are being told to serve the Lord with a full heart. That is they must “serve the LORD with fear… rejoice with trembling.” Now I don’t know if you saw what I said earlier. I happened to talk about fearing the Lord.

That we must fear the Lord because if we don’t we will not care about whether what we do every day or not is in our hearts wrong. It is, for example, bad to go back and sin again and again because an attitude in that could be “Well I can do that cuz Jesus will forgive me afterwards.” But if you do that, are you truly in your heart actually sorry you did it? No. And that’s not good at all.

That’s not a good attitude and that is not fearing the Lord

Anyway onwards into the verses it says to “kiss the Son,” Love the Lord Jesus. We should honor and love Him before we make any decisions in life.

If we reflect something that the Lord doesn’t and we in effect are being terrible, then as a consequence He will be angry.

I just looked up what “lest” means from the bible (I am learning about as much as you are reader, hahaha) and it says from yourdictionary.com:

Lest is defined as something done in order to avoid an undesirable consequence.

Consequences are not good if they come from the Lord. Sometimes He will be angry with what we do so we have to be careful and live in the Spirit and not of something that is not good. We must also learn to love and not strike out on others in an unhealthy manner, let’s say, if we get angry. Let us always strive and live for Christ. We cannot fail if all our goals are for Him and to have a desire to do actions through Him.

So we must love the Lord our God or else we could face some terrible consequences.

Let’s put all our trust in Him and be blessed! I hope you are doing well today.

Devotions Psalms 2:7-9 5/27/21

Posted on by
Reply

“I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ” Psalms NKJV

Ever felt that it is right to rebel, against society, against what our parents or what people in this world say is “right” according to them? In everyone we have each done our own things to rebel while others said what we were doing was not good.

It’s too easy to feel that pull and break away from the crowd and follow your own path. Believe me I’ve done so as a teenager in my own life.

A source I found online seems to directly speak about Psalm 2 as an overview. I had trouble pinning down what this entire chapter was about personally so here is someone’s idea below:

“Psalm 2 is a celebration of the unquestionable supremacy of God and his Messiah over all the rebellious forces of humanity. To attempt rebellion against God is absurd, because God has already decided the matter and has invested his power and authority into a human king, his Messiah.” ~ bitesizedexegesis.com

So God is supreme over all of humanity. That is deep and it states a lot in just that one paragraph describing the 2nd Psalm. To hear He is supreme over even the rebellious sides of humanity sounds kind of like He has an umbrella of protection over in this case Israel. They all dwell under Him whether they want to live for Him or not.

God does have the final say over our lives. The question is: Do we have to respond to live faithfully?

Yes though I admit I have “run off” and done my own things as well. We must not conform to the world but to God’s ways: There is no greater path than the one that is straight and narrow!

This section of the chapter also talks of David (according to the book of Acts, this book is actually written by David) begetting the nations as inheritance.

“Beget” usually means someone that is birthed by reproduction, but it seems to be used here to mean spiritually given an inheritance. To be “begotten” so that there is now a relationship with the Lord and anything asked if by His will would be a blessing.

God wants us to live for Him. Through His son Jesus we can have that relationship to have access to His will and live in Him for the rest of our lives until the ends of the earth come. Let’s submit to the supreme One who only wants to guide us in life and loves us deeply.

That is my will in Him today and I hope it is yours or will be yours as well!

Thief in the Night- 5/26/21

Posted on by
Reply

If the Lord doesn’t tarry what would you do? What I mean by that is this: What if we might see the end times soon? What if the Lord has had enough of all of our sin? What would you do about it? Would you be ready to one day have Jesus coming again?

My church is going over the book of 1 Thessalonians. In that, of the fifth chapter it says “The day of the Lord… comes” as a “thief in the night.” What could that mean?

Can it be used as a warning to people not ready yet to know Christ or to people who want to be used by Christ that keep living deep in stuff that does not honor God?

A thief comes unexpectedly. It is like a person who steals stuff away from people before they even realize it. One like that could take valuables, clothing, money, and then be gone before the people left behind in all of it will even notice it.

Some are so good they can sneak into a house and steal things from people’s houses in the middle of the day! Wow. Now that is a good thief!

There is a lot of surprising evidence also in the bible that talks of people being taken up to be with the Lord before the hardest days on earth can occur. I will reference them later in case you wonder about them (it is good to “wonder” about things, hehe. Sorry self-commercial over).

Yes the bible does support a way that Christians with conviction I believe is mixed with the world that are claiming horrible things about this from the bible. The “rapture” is NOT demonic, let me tell you guys straight and simply:

Do not claim something like that is demonic because if you claim conviction on that… maybe you are in reality influenced by something that IS demonic.

I have to warn some people as critical as a fire alarm. Just putting that out there, believers online that have made such a (self) righteous claim.

Sorry sometimes I want to push some conviction like a pastor…. I digress!

We cannot stop Christ coming if it is meant to be. But we also must live in the here and now and fear the Lord. Does that mean we have to think he will strike us down in death if we don’t follow every step all the time? No.

“Fear the Lord.” Hmm.

Did you know in the bible it says about not fearing Satan but fearing God who chooses to take you to heaven or hell, yes Paul says, fear Him?

That is talking about eventualities in eternity but fearing God today just means something else.

If you believe you know Him then it is to be mindful of His commands and to walk in the Spirit and not stay in old lusts and old ways from your pasts.

It also means to live for Christ as in making decisions that might hurt (like individual choices that God would honor though would emotionally be tough) but then the Lord would then bless in response. It means making big decisions that might be uncomfortable to do (witness? Start little. Then you will see blessings. Keep at it and before you know it you’ll love living for the Lord!).

Just following God and walking fully and wholeheartedly will do amazing things in your life. People who want to follow Christ must deny their old selves and then walk and live in Him. Maybe after we all give our all the Lord tarries. There is a chance.

Also doing so like this every day will cause amazing things in our lives to happen. Who knows what can happen because of the Love and deep mercies of Christ from His father? Amen!

Psalm 23 *Part 2 5/26/21

Posted on by
Reply

I hope you can see this as well as the first part. For some reason it seems this site only allows one post to be visible a day. Hope that’s not true but it seemed I had no views on the last one when I did this yesterday; there were views only on part 2 for some reason….

“(the) Rod and (the) Staff they comfort me.” For the Lord’s rod and staff comfort David.

What in the world are the “rod” and “staff”?

To truly understand that aspect you have to think in the mind again of a shepherd.

A “staff” is used to help guide the flock. There are many times the sheep will wander wherever they want. But the shepherd makes sure while they find fresh grass and nourishment that they are heading the right way.

A “rod” is used for an interesting purpose. It might to some be not good: many parents may think to not punish a child, yet that kid becomes so spoiled years down the road they think that whatever is coming to them they are won undeservedly.

The rod is used for sheep not doing what they are supposed to. Anyone ever got a whooping? As in, did anyone ever get spanked for doing wrong?

I have. It was humiliating.

Yet I needed it because I was not doing the right thing.

The rod is to give a member of a flock a smacking if needed. But it is probably like a tap on the “sheepy” behind, haha……..

Anyway I was digressing. Further more is just some more words that are great because it is from the Bible.

Could God be preparing a feast now? Could be. Might be.

“(He prepares) a table before me in the presence of my enemies;…”

What is this? Is there a big feast coming? A big celebration? I am not totally sure here, all I know is it might be describing a feast at the end of times.

The end of the world.

Then it continues. Here there is a semicolon being used. For that part of the verse and then with the part following. That means that the two sentences are closely related (sorry my “teacher” side is coming out now, lol!).

“ies; You anoint my head with oil: My cup runs over.”

There are many blessings from God that come just from following Him and staying as true to His word as humanly possible. Sure we may sin time to time (we even unintentionally sin too. And also never say “I am perfect” because that’s a sin too!) but as long as we wait on His promises, keep goals we might have for Him, we can see amazing things in our lives.

Wow that was a tangent! Sorry, haha.

And in that it is sure that “goodness and mercy shall” be in tune with us all the days we are here and alive.

We should also know that we are in a dwelling if we live for Christ. We will also feel that we will live in spirit and in truth in “the house of the LORD forever.”

Do you want to truly live for God? Or maybe do you think if you follow the Lord you could win a million dollars? Just know to ask for God’s help in all times of trouble ask for God’s mercy if you end up weak, but strive and abound in His peace. He the Lord just wants to help you.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Just ask God for what you wish and as long as it fits His will for you He will do great things. Amen!

Devotions Psalms 23

Posted on by
Reply

The famous Shepherd Psalm. What is so beautiful about this passage, the entirety of the chapter is it not only paints a beautiful picture of calmness and serenity in the peace of God but that it is written during times of trouble.

The writer David was being pursued to being murdered by King Saul. But in all of this he was at peace in knowing that his heart was with the Lord no matter what.

To live wholeheartedly for Christ isn’t just practice per se it’s actually not even “practice” in a way at all. It’s giving up on what we expect and putting complete and total faith in Jesus Christ. Trust and to remember He is good no matter what should happen even if it might end up tragic.

Let’s break it down verse by verse!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. What could this mean??

It means to desire the world or at least desire things in the world at all times. We should even if we may or may not be believers not be enslaved to either our old selves and only want old sins or to live not in Christ but have a heart that reflects a person that is in the world.

We shall not want. We should desire at least wanting to live for the Lord.

He (has) me lie down in green pastures. Doesn’t that sound peaceful? It sounds like the pastures are almost like a calm bed to lie in after a day’s work and the lying down makes one feel so good. Like a bed of relief! Or a place of peace.

…”Leads me beside still waters.” In the original version of my text it says “the” still waters.

In case all of this imagery is making one wonder David was a shepherd. He here is talking about being like a sheep and all of these things being as if he is being guided by a “Shepherd’ only this Shepherd being described is God.

So much being described is what a shepherd does for not only the flock but the care towards each individual sheep of that flock.

Could these still waters mean that the great Shepherd is guiding people towards a peaceful place. A place to be restored by the water. The water that is needed for living life? Here it could be that not only is it good for physical restoration but spiritual.

“…restores my soul; (and) leads me in the paths of righteousness“

What is your belief in that? Can God actually take a person who merely believes with all their heart and lead them in righteousness. It can only be by one way!

“…for His name’s sake.“ Wow this feel’s prophetic in a way! I don’t think I rarely ever hear a book of the Old Testament say that God has a name. That is astounding! But David probably didn’t know that that name was (Jesus. The good shepherd).

David was talking also about how He is restored in Him. But we could say we can apply this to now. Living for goodness that is God through the Lord.

“Truly, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” Whoa, is this about hardships or is this just some imagery? “I won’t fear evil for You’re with me.”

Was David facing possible death from King Saul’s hands? Then why was he at such peace in the midst of all those circumstances?

I used to be afraid of many things. I didn’t know how to deal with them until I started to be a stronger person in faith. This was not really because of any specific ritual or thinking patterns… I started to pray to the Lord and then scares about things as seemingly little as very stormy weather had me over time experience the peace and living while keeping my soul focus off those storms and praying that He would keep me safe. That is kind of like Peter from the bible only he took his eyes off of someone to trust and then sunk like a stone in the water because of the stormy terrors around him.

Are you afraid of the circumstances going on around in this world? Pray. Maybe God will open something for you in your life.

Devotions- Psalm 91 *Part 2 5/25/21*

Posted on by
Reply

Wow this entire chapter covers a lot! It goes from wanting to be sheltered and be under the shadow of holiness and to depend on Him and praise the Lord.

The writer says as we depend on the shadow of the Almighty, he says that God is his refuge and strength. And puts his full trust in Him.

The next section is interesting I had to explore a couple of words (and one definition out of curiosity: Ever assume you know the definition and then you look it up? I’m not always right in that, haha!).

The first word I looked up was “fowler.” It said basically the word meant a hunter of birds.

Why is that significant…? Hmm. Well later in the chapter not much into the passage it describes the Lord as one who takes us under His wings. That is sweet … but what does that mean?

It means that He will be like a wildfowl or bird that treats us like one of its own, gathering us under its wing. Like a mother bird or something like that being protective.

We should also be guarded and protected ourselves! We must have something to protect us out in this world (the Word of God). It could mean we should have a way to share but to stay guarded in case people “fire” back at us with questions. “Are you really a Christian? What is it that you people are crazy about? Huh, you love me? You don’t even know me!”

Some might be so harsh they are deeply discouraging. Some may be strong in delivering the enemy’s attack, by that I mean Satan.

We must hold fast and share and love and show others the way no matter what harsh or teasing things may happen in this world today. It is kind of a battleground nowadays but this is also all just the Lord’s battle. We must not be harsh but loving, we must not throw terrible words at others just to “stir the pot” and show real godliness, we must keep our hearts away from what we used to do and live in Him so that they know who Christ is and see by your example!

We must deeply search our hearts plucking out anything that either goes against HIs truth or His way.

We must be clean like Christ and live in the Holy Spirit day to day and see ourselves the way God sees us… so that we can deliver others while showing His salvation. Let’s be doers not just speakers of the Word today!