“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
I do not know if you know what I mean when I say that I have been feeling the heaviness of life for the last few days. I am retired and not on a strict schedule, but I have been feeling the pressure of demands on my life and on my time. Mostly, I have just felt a great need for the Lord. I was searching for a scripture reference that would speak to my need. Psalm 46:1 came to my mind, so I read it, meditated on it, prayed over it, and then felt the need to share my thoughts on the text with you. “God is our refuge…” I remember a gospel song that I heard years ago, and haven’t heard for a long time, that spoke to this. The song was “I Found a Hiding Place.” I don’t remember all of the words to the song, but the thought behind the song spoke to me this morning. When we feel that the world is rushing in on us and that the demands of life are becoming too heavy, we can escape to that hiding place and find the security that we need to go on and to meet the demands that life places on us. It is just good to take refuge in God sometimes and just let Him minister to our sore hearts and minds. When we go to Him for refuge, He reassures us of His presence and of His love for us. It is also in this hiding place that the Lord feeds our faith and lifts our spirits. “God is…our strength.” It is nice to take refuge in the Lord, but we cannot stay there. When we are in the “hiding place” and He is ministering to us, He is preparing us to go on and do His will for our lives, and to meet the demands of our lives whatever those demands may be. It is in these times that He gives us the strength to leave the hiding place. I praise Him that the strength that He gives us is His strength. It is Holy Spirit strength. The promise of the Holy Spirit given by Jesus is not an idle promise. The Holy Spirit is not in our lives to just give us some “holy thrill” and some talking points for our next fellowship meeting. He gave us the Holy Spirit to minister to us on a daily basis and to give us the strength that we need to live and to serve. The text did not say that God just gives us strength. He does give us strength, but the text says that God is our strength. We need to remember that when we have Him in our lives, we have His strength. It doesn’t hurt to ask for His strength, but we should remember that we already have His strength because we have Him. (At this point we pause and say “Thank you Jesus.”) “God is…our very present help in trouble.” The NIV translates this: “God is our ever present help in trouble.” I like both translations. God is our “very” present help. There is no doubt about it. But He is also our “ever” present help in trouble. We can know that there will never be a time when He will not be our “help in trouble.” I think that the whole Bible story from Genesis to Revelation shows us this. I have found in my life that God’s help in my troubles takes different forms. For example, there are times that I go to the hiding place whining and whimpering. That is when He “takes me to the woodshed” and tells me to get over it and get on with it. There are other times that I go to Him in real need and He ministers to my heart and gently shoves me back out into the fray. We need to be sensitive to what God is telling us when we go to Him for refuge. When He gives us His strength in those times of refuge, He gives it to us to serve Him and to do His will for our lives. But we can be assured that when the Lord Jesus has a plan for us, and that He will be with us while He carries it out through us. You can take this verse personally. Let the Lord speak to your heart now through this verse. Let Him be your refuge today. If you are a believer, know that He is your strength, and that He is present in your life for whatever trouble you might encounter. Believe it! Rejoice in it! Do it! Bro. Joe
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“Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. 5. For His anger endures for a moment: in His favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
In these two verses, David calls upon God’s saints to “sing unto the Lord" a glad song. Singing is one way throughout history that we have been able to express ourselves in joy or sorrow. Singing (music), is one of the great blessings of God to us. Our devotion to God needs to be expressed and one of the main ways that we do it is through singing. Why should we sing unto the Lord? We should sing unto the Lord because we are “saints of his.” In the Bible, a saint is not a person who has been set aside as being a special person; rather a saint is anyone who belongs to the Lord. In the Old Testament the Israelites are referred to as “saints.” In the New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ are referred to as “saints.” Today, being a saint means that one belongs to God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is, perhaps, our greatest reason for singing songs of joy, because we belong to God. We belong to God by His grace, not because we deserve it. God’s grace bestowed upon us is a reason for us to sing unto the Lord. We should sing unto God because He is holy: “and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.” The fact that there is a holy God overseeing this seemingly erratic universe should give us a song in our hearts. God’s holiness does not just mean that He is good and above reproach. It also means that He is holy in all of His dealings with us. In other words, we can trust God because He is holy. Whatever happens, we can be assured that the Holy God loves us and that He is looking out for our best interests. We will not understand all that God has done for us until we are face to face with Him, but by faith we can sing about His favor now. Which brings us to: We should sing unto the Lord because, “His anger endures for a moment: in His favor is life.” I pity the people who only see God as “the angry God.” Some people refuse to believe in Him because they read about His judgments in the Bible, or see His judgments today. This is not the complete picture of the God who has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ. The important thing to know about God is not that He is angry, for "His anger lasts but a moment, but His favor lasts for a lifetime." In the final analysis, the “saints of God” will be in His favor no matter what other judgments may come in their lives. The Bible tells us that God disciplines His children just as a good parent disciplines his or her children. God’s discipline is a result of His love and favor. When we forget that, we do not sing unto the Lord. We should sing unto the Lord because, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” We have probably all had a fitful night’s sleep, worrying about what we had to face, but when morning light broke we saw what we were worried about in a new light. God did a work of grace in our lives even while we slept. We can be sure that there will be times for us to weep. But we can be equally sure that our weeping will turn to joy when God does His work in our lives. This is why we should have a song in our hearts, and why we should be optimistic about life. We can trust that though “weeping may endure for a night…joy comes in the morning." Believe it! Bro. Joe “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound (overflow) in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
I don’t know how many hundreds of times I have read this verse throughout my years of Bible reading and Bible study, but today it really caught my attention. It is loaded with gospel truth. Paul had just dealt with the inclusion of the Gentiles as the people of God, which had been prophesied in the Old Testament. This verse serves as a kind of doxology on that truth. The hope of God is for Jews and gentiles alike. Through Jesus Christ the world is literally overflowing with hope. Paul, then, gives the substance of this overflowing hope. I’m going to begin at the bottom of the verse to point out the reason that we have this hope. Paul wrote that it was “through the power of the Holy Spirit.” In John’s gospel, the promise of the Holy Spirit was given, and at the end of the gospels and at the first of Acts we see the fulfillment of that promise. We have this great hope in the Lord because of the Holy Spirit that God has given to believers. The Holy Spirit who convicted us, confirmed us and entered into our lives brought this great overflowing hope into our lives. (Remember that hope as used in the New Testament does not mean “maybe so” as we use it today, it means that through the Holy Spirit we have certain hope.) The hope that we are given overflows with joy: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy…” In John 15:11, Jesus said, “My joy I give you that your joy might be full.” Jesus gives us His joy through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that we will always be happy, but it does mean that we will have the Joy of Christ no matter what is occuring our lives. It is up to us to claim this joy when we are going through difficult times. The Bible nowhere promises God’s people that their lives will be trouble free. All you have to do is read about all of the Bible’s prominent characters and see the troubles that they went through – all the way from Moses to Paul. But all believers have an overflowing hope that brings Christ’s joy into their lives. The hope that we are given overflows with peace: “Now the God of hope fill you with…peace in believing.” Just as Jesus promised us His joy, He also promised us His peace in John 16:33: “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation (trouble): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world…” Hundreds, maybe thousands, of books have been written advising people how they can find peace. Jesus promised us overflowing peace. The Holy Spirit brings peace into our lives. Like it is with joy, this promise of peace does not mean that we will not have anything negative happen in our lives to unsettle our peace. After all, Jesus said, “in this world you will have trouble.” He offers us overflowing peace in spite of the troubles that we meet with in life. I personally know this, for I have had to claim this peace many times. The hope of overflowing hope with joy and peace comes about by believing: “Now the God hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…” “Believing” is an important word in the New Testament. The promise given throughout the New Testament is that we can have salvation through believing in Jesus Christ. This means more than believing about, or just believing Jesus. To believe in Jesus means to give your life to Him. Believe in Jesus and claim the overflowing hope, joy and peace that we can have only in Christ. If you have it today, claim it!!! Bro. Joe “And (Jesus) arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Jesus and His disciples were in the midst of the Sea of Galilee in Peter’s little fishing boat. A storm came up and the disciples feared for their lives. Jesus was asleep on the stern of the boat when the disciples woke Him up and asked: “Carest thou not that we perish.” Of course Jesus cared; He just knew that this was yet another test of their faith, for He said to them: “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” It’s interesting that Jesus made the statement about their fear and faith after He had stilled the storm. As we go through the storms of our lives, we need for Jesus to say “peace be still,” and He will give us peace when we call on Him. When does Jesus say “peace be still”? Jesus says “peace be still” when we are in seemingly helpless and hopeless situations. (I used the word “seemingly” here, because when Jesus is in our lives we are never hopeless or helpless.) I have been on a ship in the middle of the South China Sea in a typhoon, or hurricane. It was an exciting ride for several days, but it was certain that we were helpless to do anything about it, but ride it out until it was over. We come across times like this in our lives. It could be some kind of sickness, a divorce, a church problem, a family problem, or whatever, but in the middle of these storms, we can’t find a way out. When Jesus is involved, He will be with us while we ride it out, or He will say “peace be still.” Jesus is there with His peace no matter how He chooses to give us the calm that we need. We just need to understand that Jesus cares and that He is at work in our lives to help us. Our problem is that sometimes we don’t hear Jesus say “peace be still,” and we think that we are still in the storm. Call on Jesus today and listen for His “peace be still.” You are not helpless. Jesus says “peace be still” when we are in a sea of trouble. The first thing that we need to do when we are going through troubles is ask ourselves if we did something to get ourselves into this situation. If we did, the first thing that we need to do is to repent and ask for forgiveness. It is a step of faith to recognize our own responsibilities and call on Jesus for forgiveness before we ask Him to bring calm into our lives. Otherwise, we need to realize that Jesus is stronger than the strongest storms, and He is stronger than our largest troubles. I know that this is difficult to ascertain when we are in the middle of a storm of trouble, but it is Christian reality that Jesus is in the “boat” with us while we are riding out the storm. We just need to listen with our hearts and minds for His “peace be still.” I ministered to prisoners for several years from 1988 until I retired in 2010, and those prisoners who found peace in spite of their troubles were those who had repented of the sins that got them in prison and sought the peace that only Jesus could bring. Jesus says “peace be still” when the contrary winds of controversy blow about us. We are living in troubled times today. There is so much anger and vitriol in Washington. We are reminded every day of the desire for radical Muslims to kill us in the name of Allah. Sin is no longer recognized as sin, even in some mainline “Christian” denominations. We need to realize that this has always been the crisis of Christians throughout our history. We are “in the world but not of the world.” Jesus promised us that the world at large would oppose us, because the world at large, under Satan’s control, opposes Jesus and the Bible. The good news is that Jesus knows all about it and has said “peace be still.” It will all work out in the end. Bro. Joe “And (Jesus) said unto them (disciples), Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?”
The context of this verse is Jesus’ appearance to His disciples after his resurrection. Verse 37 tells us: “But they were terrified and afraid, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. ”The tone of verse 38 is that Jesus was aggravated with His disciples because of their fear and their doubts. “And why do thoughts arise in your hearts” is otherwise translated as: “Why do doubts arise in your hearts.” They had been with Jesus three years and heard Him say on several occasions that He would be tried, crucified and that He would rise again. With the evidence that Jesus had given them, He wanted to know why they were troubled. This is a good question for us to ask ourselves if we are troubled. It is certain that all of us are troubled at some time or other, but we need to remember that we do not need to constantly be troubled, or let our troubles make us afraid and doubtful. I want to reveal some reasons why we might be troubled, and what we can do to rise above our troubles. I do not mean to be overly negative here, for I understand that the Christian life is not always lived victoriously, but we need to be aware of things that can keep us from being overrun by our troubles. I think that we sometimes let our troubles get the best of us because we fail to believe, or remember, the promises of God. In John 14:1, Jesus said: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” That was a promise that because of our faith, we do not have to be overcome by our troubles, or wallow in them. The Bible is alive with promises that God will be with us in everything that we go through in life. Jesus took the time to tell His disciples, and through scripture, us, that He would always be with us. He promised in John’s gospel more than one time that He would send the Holy Spirit to lead and guide His followers. Jesus’ last promise to his disciples was that He would send them the Holy Spirit to empower them for witnessing to the world. The promise still holds true today. There might be some reasons that we can convince ourselves that our troubles should constantly overcome us, but biblical promises of God’s love, care and presence with us through all of the things that we face in life is a good reason not to be overcome by our troubles. I think that we sometimes let our troubles get the best of us because we fail to realize the blessings of God. If we believe in Jesus, and if we believe what we read and hear about Jesus, just knowing Him is a blessing. Having Him alive in us through the Holy Spirit, and having Him intercede for us from the right hand of the Father is a blessing. We don’t have to look far for the blessings of God. When we feel that we are not blessed, it is because we are not thinking in faith but in doubt. Like the disciples, we are troubled and doubtful because we have been overcome by some situation. Just being forgiven for our sins is a blessing from God. When we are going through troubles in our lives, we have to remember that everyone has troubles. No human being has smooth sailing every day. No human being wins all of the time, nor do they realize all of their plans and dreams. We are often troubled because we think that we are not blessed anymore. I have seen people blame God because life didn’t go like they wanted it to. They are either not Christians, or they are in a terrible backslidden condition. Our troubles should not cause us to forget the blessings of God. Why are you letting your troubles overcome your victory in Jesus? It might be that you have forgotten the promises and blessings of God. At least think about it. Bro. Joe The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their trouble. 18. The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.”
As I read these verses I became keenly aware that there are many advantages to being a child of God. In verses 17 and 19, David refers to “the righteous.” This is not referring to people who are perfect, or who are legalistic and mean-spirited. (One thinks of the Pharisees here.) “The righteous” are not so religious that they are above getting their hands dirty in their service for the Lord. In fact, they are not “religious” at all; they are dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, not a religion. Looking at this text from the standpoint of the New Testament, “the righteous” are people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, are living for Him and it shows in their lives. The promise in this text is that the Lord will not let us down. Initially, I need to point out that Christian people of God, are not promised that everything will always go their way. In verse 17, David mentions that God delivers His people from trouble. This means, of course, that like all other human beings, God’s people will have troubles. In verse 19, David wrote: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous…” When you read the Bible, you become aware that even the great men of God, like Moses, David and Daniel, had to go through some hardships, struggles and afflictions. It concerns me that many people want to walk away from their commitment to God when they encounter troubles, as though God has broken some promise to them that they would never have to endure sorrows and troubles. I don’t know where they got that idea, but I know that they didn’t get it from the Bible. What then are the advantages of being a child of God? In verses 17 and 19 David wrote about the deliverance of God. Though we go through trials and troubles, dark days and troublesome times, God is aware of what is going on in our lives and is set to deliver us from them. We do not have to read self-help books, or go running to the world’s counselors to help us get through hard times, because we have the Lord, who has promised to deliver us. Please consider that whatever dark moment you might be experiencing right now, God is already at work on your deliverance. When you have learned what you need to learn, and have grown sufficiently in your dependence on His grace, God is ready to deliver you just as He delivered people in the Bible. In my mind, verse 18 has the promise that we need to hold tenaciously to when we encounter hardships and troubles: “The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken spirit and contrite heart.” The promise is that God is near us when we belong to Him. In Psalm 23:4 David wrote: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” David did not blame God that he had to walk through “the valley of the shadow of death;” rather he praised God that He did not abandon him while he went through it. The same is true for you, for God has not changed. He is still near us. When our spirits are broken, instead of pouting and complaining, we need to be “contrite in heart” and realize that we are dependent on God. David wrote in Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” This does not mean that we should be depressed all of the time. It does mean that we are to remember that God is near us and will deliver us from, or through, whatever it is we have to endure. Whatever you are dealing with in your life right now, remember the promise of God and go to Him, totally depending on Him to deliver you. Bro. Joe “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Philippians is mostly a positive letter to a church that sent Paul a monetary gift while he was imprisoned in Rome. The prevailing problem in Philippi, and other churches, was a group called “Judaizers,” who were teaching that in order to become a Christian one had to first be circumcised and become a Jew and live according to the law. That is why Paul wrote, “For we are the circumcision,” meaning that a Christian is right before God, not because of circumcision, but because of his faith in Christ. We are not saved by keeping rituals and laws. We are not saved by becoming religious, but by putting our faith in Christ. In the rest of the verse, Paul tells what this means. Instead of circumcision and law, we “worship God in the Spirit.” We were convicted of our sins by the Holy Spirit and convinced that Christ could be our Savior by the Holy Spirit. The Gentile Philippian Christians were made right with God, not by what man could do, but by what God could do. Circumcision served its purpose in indentifying men who belonged to God through their relation with Abraham, but since Christ’s death, burial, resurrection and ascension, faith in Him was the key. We don’t worship God from the standpoint of the law, and by what we do, but by the Spirit of God who has changed us from within. It is not through being religious and following ritual that we are saved but through the resurrected Christ. We worship God, not just as one who sits in heaven, but as one who lives in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It can be that the rituals of worship serve their purpose in giving guidance and substance to our worship, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes the worship meaningful and life-changing. Instead of rejoicing in our accomplishments, “we rejoice in Jesus Christ.” In all of his letters, Paul makes it plain that our salvation did not come from what we did, but from what Christ did on the cross. We rejoice in Christ because it was He who gave us new life and a new lease on life. It was Christ who changed our lives. We were not changed because we “turned over a new leaf.” Someone once said that the only thing that you get when you turn over a new leaf is the other side of the same leaf. We rejoice in Christ because by our faith in Him we will be given abundant life here, and will live with Him eternally in heaven. People who depend on their initiative and their own religiosity to draw close to God rejoice in what they have done. Rejoicing for Christians is not in our accomplishments, but in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Instead of putting “confidence in the flesh,” in what we can do, we put our confidence in Jesus. What Paul means by writing that “we do not have confidence in the flesh,” is that we do not put our confidence in our religious achievements, but in Christ as we are led by the Holy Spirit. A good example of this is given to us through the Pharisees in the New Testament. They actually thought that they were righteous based on what they did by keeping rules and regulations that over the years went much further than the Ten Commandments, and actually became laws of men. In essence they were “measuring themselves by themselves.” They were following rules that they made up. We are led by the Holy Spirit. This means that we are not putting confidence in the flesh, but our confidence is in God. We need to remember always that it is not by human compulsion that we are led to live the right kind of life; rather, we are led by the Spirit of God. It is not what we have done, but what Christ has done that makes us right before God. Bro. Joe “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha you are careful and troubled about many things: 42. But one thing is needful; and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
We are going to revisit Mary and Martha and see what they can teach us. You will probably remember that Jesus was visiting in the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha was concerned about the meal, and whatever else, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha was upset with Mary and wanted her to come help her in the kitchen. Luke 10:41-42 is the answer that Jesus gave to Martha. The problem was that Martha was distracted. To be distracted is to have one’s attention diverted from one thing to another. In this case, Martha was distracted from the presence of Jesus and Mary was taking advantage of having Him present. What distracted Martha was not a bad thing. In fact, if it had been anyone but Jesus, she would have had a case against Mary. I think that the lesson here for us is that we shouldn’t let things distract us from our closeness to Jesus. What are some things that can distract us if we aren’t careful? World events can distract us. As I write this, the world is concerned that Russia has invaded Ukraine. It is something to be concerned about, but it should not distract us to the point that we worry about it. We can’t do anything about it anyway. What we need to do in a case like this is to go to the feet of Jesus, as Mary did, and give all of the worry about that to Him. He told us in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." We should take Him up on that offer. Jesus knows what is going on in the world, and he does not want us to worry about those things. Personal problems can distract us. I am not being judgmental here, because I know something about the distraction of personal problems. Whatever the problems are, family, school, work, church, health, etc., they should not distract us from going to Jesus with them. Jesus knows what is going on in our lives, and He knows what is going on in the lives of other people who might be of concern in our distractions. He wants to minister to us, and He wants us to know that He is with us through whatever the problems may be. Some people take this to extremes and blame God when bad things happen in their lives. This is not unusual because great Bible characters questioned God at times when they were having personal problems. Psalm 13 comes to mind. In the first verse, David wails:“How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me.” (Don’t judge David too harshly here, because all of us have probably thought that at one time or the other.) In the ensuing verses, David lays out his case and draws closer and closer to the Lord until he concludes in verses 5-6: “But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart rejoices in thy salvation. 6. I will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bountifully with me.” If we will take our minds and hearts off of the problem and put them on Jesus, He will give us an answer, or give us what we need to cope with the problem. We will discover as David did, that God has, indeed, “dealt bountifully” with us. Whatever is troubling you, hurry, hurry to the feet of Jesus with whatever it is that is troubling you. He knows, and His presence will comfort you. I have dealt with only two things that can distract us from fellowship with Jesus, but I think they illustrate what we need to do when we get distracted by the world. Satan is in the business of distracting us, and he does a very good (evil) job of it. Remember that when our attention is distracted away from Jesus, it is Satan at work trying to discourage us and bring us down. Don’t let him do that to you. Bro. Joe “Sing to the Lord, you saints of His, praise His holy name. 5. 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.”
These verses remind us of what our response should be to God no matter how trying life has become. When things are not going well for us, we have a tendency to blame God. We might not consciously admit this, but in the back of our minds we think that God owes us more than we are getting. Blaming God for hardships will get us nowhere. We live in a fallen world and that is the way life is in a fallen world. Trials and tribulations are part of living, and they can be tests of our faith. The question is what is our response to God when things are tough? These two verses from Psalm 30 will tell us what our response should be – regardless. “Sing to the Lord, you saints of His, praise His holy name.” What God wants from us at all times is to praise Him. Praise was not always easy for David and other psalmists. The psalms are full of complaints to the Lord because of what life was handing them at the time. Yet the psalmists also remind us time after time that we are to praise God. In psalm 35:28 David wrote: “And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.”If we praise God “all the daylong” we will surely, at some point, praise Him in the midst of trouble. Asaph wrote in psalm 50:15: “And call upon me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify (praise) me.” I looked up “praise” in my Strong’s exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, and I found passage after passage about praising God. The Bible is full of the praises of God. I know that life can be hard, and that some things that happen to us are awfully hard to overcome, but it does us no good to give in to self-pity or grumbling and complaining. What we need to do during these times is to “sing to the Lord…praise His holy name.” You will be a better person for it, and you will feel better about yourself. “His anger lasts only for a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime.” This is a good reminder for us that God is not against us. He might be against the way we are living at a given time, as we are told: “His anger lasts only a moment,” which does mean that He gets angry with us. That anger comes because He knows that we can do better. When you feel God-forsaken, and think that God is not doing anything in your life, remember that you have His favor. We need to be careful with this word “favor.” We can get the idea that when things are not going our way, we have lost God’s favor. Read it again: “But His favor lasts a lifetime…” There are times when we feel God’s favor more than at other times, but God always wants the best for us, and when we forget that fact we stray from what the Lord Jesus wants of us. We do well to remember His favor, especially when we are going through difficult times. “Weeping may endure for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” There are four words that have come to mean a lot to me over the years, and they are: “this, too, shall pass.” That is what David meant when he wrote: “Weeping may endure for a night…” We need to remember that nothing lasts forever. Whatever you are going through right now will come to an end, and at the end of it there will be joy and rejoicing. Sometimes it seems that woes will never end, but they do. What we need to focus on is not the weeping but the joy and rejoicing. The choice as to how we will respond to the “weeping” is really up to us. We can pout and simmer, but that will only prolong the weeping. We just need to remember that when “morning” comes there will be joy and rejoicing. Grab a hold of this truth, and make it a way of life. The right response to the Lord is to praise Him, remember His favor and accept the joy that He sends “in the morning." Bro. Joe “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”
A door can be an entrance or an exit. Jesus referred to Himself as “the door.” Through Him we can enter into some good things and exit from some bad things. For example, Jesus said in verse 10b: “I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus is the door to the abundant life. This is not necessarily speaking of material abundance, but it is speaking about spiritual abundance. It is the abundance of well-being. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the presence of Jesus in my life gives me a great sense of well-being. Looking at the direction of the world today, if I went into the world’s door, I might have a nervous breakdown. It is the abundance of great fellowship. When we enter the Jesus door, we enter into daily fellowship with God. He has promised His presence every day that we live. There is never a time in our lives, once we enter the Jesus door that we are not in fellowship with God. This leads us to the door of prayer. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two. This means that the door to the “holy of holies” is open to us twenty four hours a day. We can talk to Him about our troubles, and we can take our petitions to Him. In fact, He invites us pray, to ask. He wants to provide for us through prayer. This abundance is available only to those who enter by the Jesus door. It is the door to fellowship with other Christians. He saved us individually, but He saved us to be in relationship with fellow Christians. We can, and should, find joy in this fellowship. It is good to know that we are not alone in this sometimes hostile world. The abundant life that we enter into by going through the Jesus door is only available through Him. Jesus said that when we enter His door, we “go in and out and find pasture.” We depend on Him for sustenance just as sheep depend on the shepherd for sustenance. It is the door to power. I do not mean the kind of power that the world gives, but the power that He gives us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. That power was to be used as witnesses to the people of the whole world. That power is also available to help us overcome the world. We need the abundance of the Spirit’s help to live the Christian life. If we tried to go it alone, we would surely fail. Satan’s temptations are too great for us, but not for Jesus. Every time the devil and his demons confronted Jesus, Jesus won. They were no match for Him. Through the Holy Spirit, we can sic Jesus on him and defeat him. It is the power to overcome ourselves. Dwight L. Moody once intimated that the main person that he had trouble with was himself. We can be our own worst enemies, but the abundant power of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome even our worst selves. It is the door to an optimistic, loving approach to life. Paul wrote about the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Paul added in verse 24: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” This quality of life is available only to those who enter by the Jesus door. I mentioned that a door is also an exit. When we enter the Jesus door, we exit all of the negativity that can be in our lives – all of the things that are opposite of Galatians 5:22-23. When we feel separated from Jesus, we need to remember that we have entered His door, and life does not have to be that way. Come into the door that is Jesus, and only He can open it for you. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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