Tag: psalm-91

Too earthly focused and no heavenly good. Too heavenly focused and not even one grain of sand earthly good. Philippians 3:12-21

Philippians 3:12-21 The Message

Focused on the Goal

12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

17-19 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.

20-21 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In the World…
  • Can a Christian be more effective by paying attention to world events?
  • Should we ignore what is going on in the world and just focus on God?

Simplistic questions as these will never get helpful responses, but I thought they may again capture our attention to what really matters.

At the time of writing this, there are catastrophic losses of life and property from flash flooding in several states, wildfires, riots, civil and social unrest, going on in the United States and two wars going on in the Middle East.

This devotion is not intended to address these issues, but it may very well give us exactly what we need.

Too Heavenly Minded?

I don’t know if you have heard the phrase, “too heavenly minded for earthly good.” The intent of this phrase is that the person’s head is in the clouds and ignoring the real-world problems. It suggests that this person has nothing to offer to help move the issues to resolution.

For the most part, this is true of Christians.

In an attempt to be non-biased and impartial, we pull ourselves out of the conversation.

Is this what God has called us into when He sent us out to disciple nations (Matthew 28:16-20)?

A peacemaker is not standing passively on any sidelines watching everything unfold, but instead actively engages the conversation to bring the impactful, transformational love of God into every relationship.

Where to Start?

As Christians, we are given specific instructions.

First and foremost, in every situation, we are to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2).

Paul exhorts us that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:25). Therefore, we are to allow God to transform our minds and interpret every situation we face.

Too often we get our thoughts from the media or other influencers.

They may have an accurate view of what’s going on, and again they may not.

But those informing our views are getting us into a panic, worried about what may happen.

This fear may help them gain viewers or increase their profit lines, but it’s not anywhere close (how far is the east from the west) view God has on the world.

Think on Such Things

We are commissioned to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).

God is not distraught in the affairs of the world; He always has hope.

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

If we are filled with sorrows, worry, anger, fear, or belittling from others over situations, we are not getting God’s perspective.

Don’t let the sun go down on your anger… and then give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27). And over all these virtues, put on love (Colossians 3:14).

With everything that we see, we need to choose to maintain God’s perspective.

How we feel thinking about the world events, reveal whether or not we have God’s perspective.

Should We Have an Opinion?

Do I have an opinion on what is going on the world’s stage? Absolutely.

Would communicating those views add clarity to these situations? Maybe.

However, I believe that God has called me specifically to encourage people to connect with God for themselves.

Not only does God have perfect knowledge and understanding, He loves you perfectly and completely. He can address your fears and strengthen your heart.

A connection with Him will proved much more healing to the overall situation.

Should this be every Christians view? Absolutely not. God has called some of you to speak out. For now, my calling is to encourage you to seek God and help you to know you don’t have His perspective if it is not leading you to hope and love.

Focus on God and what He says is true.

If it doesn’t match your experience, still focus on what He says is true.

For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

This will lead to your greatest joy – communion with Him.

Are We Anywhere near Ready to Let Go – Let God?

Philippians 3:13-14 New American Standard Bible

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Max Lucado tells a story about the late champion boxer Muhammad Ali taking someone to his barn where he stored his trophies and awards.

Standing in the doorway, he pointed to his many trophies and said, “It ain’t nothing.”

He had come to the conclusion that at the end of all things when all is said and done, at his very last breath, all of his vast accomplishments meant very little.

Centuries earlier, the apostle Paul looked back on his life and on all the things he had been proud of, and he said,

“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss. I consider them rubbish.”

Paul said this not because he had a debilitating disease like Muhammad Ali but because he had met the Lord Jesus.

He was ready to let go of whatever was behind him so that he could serve the Lord and live by the power of the risen Savior.

As we are about to enter into another “who knows what” are we ready to let go of things that keep us from experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection?

Are we ready to let go of all the things that at one time seemed all-important?

Are we ready to let go to ask the Lord today for the grace to toss out everything that stands, that accumulates dust in our closets, find ways of serving him?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit …

Praying …

Psalm 91 New American Standard Bible

Security of One Who Trusts in the Lord.

91 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper
And from the deadly plague.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may take refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and wall.

5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the plague that [a]stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that devastates at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the retaliation against the wicked.
9 [b]For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
The Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will happen to you,
Nor will any plague come near your [c]tent.

11 For He will give His angels orders concerning you,
To protect you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will lift you up,
So that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will walk upon the lion and cobra,
You will trample the young lion and the [d]serpent.

14 “Because he has loved Me, I will save him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in [e]trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with [f]a long life,
And [g]show him My salvation.”

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Standing? Sitting? Lounging? Asleep? Vacationing? Arguing? Getting Drunk Humming? Behind the Message are all the ‘beautiful?’ Lazy? messengers themselves. Romans 10:14-17  

Romans 10:14-17 The Message

14-17 But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims,

A sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people
    telling all the good things of God!

But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful, yet simple, and universal declarations of the good news of the gospel of grace, is found in Chapter 2 book of the Prophet Joel: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord, will be delivered.”

Joel 2:32 English Standard Version

32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the  Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Originally, this was an ancient prophetic proclamation made to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament which was subsequently reiterated to the men of Israel in the book of Acts… following Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.

Acts 4:8-12 English Standard Version

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus[a] is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.[b] 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men[c] by which we must be saved.”

And then this good news of greatest joy was repeated to the Gentile nations in the epistle to the Romans, where we, who were dead in our sins, discover the beautiful truth that: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord, will be saved.”

When God speaks, we should listen, but when He repeats an important truth, it should be received with our laser focused undivided attention.

But then comes the devastating reality from Romans 10:14-17 unless someone is prepared to go and tell lost sinners that “whoever will call on the name of the Lord, will be saved,” they will never hear: “For how can they call on the Lord, in Whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him, Whom they have not heard? And how will they hear about Him without a preacher?”

No matter how amazing the gospel of Christ may be, unless lost souls are told the truth about sin and salvation… and unless the good news of the gospel of grace is proclaimed universally, men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles alike, will remain dead in their trespasses and sins.

Not all of us may be called into the office of evangelist or preacher, but every one of God’s children has a Great Commission to be THE light in this darkened realm, salt in a putrefying world, God’s witnesses to those that are lost in their sins, a walking talking testimony of God’s grace to those who are dead in their trespasses, and messenger of hope to those that are without hope in the world.

God has long promised to hear the cries of all who call upon Him – but first they must believe in Him… and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent. How shocking then to realize unless the gospel is preached to a world of unsaved people, they will neither hear the truth, nor be able to call out to the only One Who can save them from their sins and a lost eternity – but how will they hear without a preacher?

A deliberately silent gospel and a purposely hidden witness will not minister to anyone at anytime for those wandering in, stumbling in, the valley of decisions.

Matthew 9:35-38 English Standard Version

The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Let us pray that God would send out His diligent, vigilant messengers, laborer’s into the ever expanding, ever present harvest-fields of all the souls that need to be saved by grace through their faith in Jesus Christ, and let us ask God to bring His whispers into our lives people, with whom we can share the good news that:

“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord, will be delivered – for how can they call on the Lord, in Whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him, Whom they have not heard? And how will they hear about His message of salvation without a preacher?”

As we assume whatever our “regularly scheduled” bodily or spiritual posture will be for the moment, for all of the live long days, and the longest darkest of nights, let us take careful consideration of what Romans 10:14-17 means to us.

Or not…just go about our regularly scheduled days with our governing attitudes.

Somebody else will surely come along eventually – maybe, perhaps, some day?

Heavenly Father, I guess that there are multitudes of souls in the world today that remain dead in their trespasses and sins. I gratefully, not so gratefully thank You(?) wondering if You have given me all I need for life and godliness.

Should I dare ask that You would use me to share the good news of Christ with others, and pray that You would send more laborer’s into the harvest-fields of the world and bring many souls to saving faith in Jesus, in Whose name I pray? Or should I not pray one prayer, nor utter even one syllable of even one word? or just cry out to be left alone under any all known circumstances? Hallelujah?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Let us Pray,

Psalm 91 Complete Jewish Bible

91 You who live in the shelter of ‘Elyon,
who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai,
2 who say to Adonai, “My refuge! My fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!” —
3 he will rescue you from the trap of the hunter
and from the plague of calamities;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his truth is a shield and protection.

5 You will not fear the terrors of night
or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the plague that roams in the dark,
or the scourge that wreaks havoc at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand;
but it won’t come near you.
8 Only keep your eyes open,
and you will see how the wicked are punished.

9 For you have made Adonai, the Most High,
who is my refuge, your dwelling-place.
10 No disaster will happen to you,
no calamity will come near your tent;
11 for he will order his angels to care for you
and guard you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you in their hands,
so that you won’t trip on a stone.
13 You will tread down lions and snakes,
young lions and serpents you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he loves me, I will rescue him;
because he knows my name, I will protect him.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble.
I will extricate him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life
and show him my salvation.”

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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