- araratchurch
- Apr 21, 2022
- 3 min read
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Psalms 19:14 NKJV
Hot mic moments, it’s the stuff nightmares are made of. What are we referencing here? Someone, wearing a microphone —either thinking that it has been turned off or forgetting they have it on—says something they never wanted people, other than the listener, to hear. Here are some examples:
A former President of the United States while still in office, was making some negotiations with a Russian official. He, thinking his mic was turned off, whispers this to the Russian official:
"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." The Russian official responded, "I understand. I will transmit this information to [another Russian official]," who will retake the presidency in May.” But for a corrupt media, this would have torpedoed his chances of winning re-election.
Then there’s this:
A high-level member of the English monarchy, while doing a photo op with the press (in hopes of swaying public opinion toward something he was about to do), turned to his sons and whispered this:
"I hate doing this...I hate these people." Needless to say, this overheard sentiment did not improve his rapport with the press!
I’ll offer just one more:
A civil rights icon was being interviewed about something. During downtime of the interview, forgetting he is still wearing a mic, he turns to the other person being interviewed and says,
"I’d like to cut the [very personal body part] off [references a high level government leader] for talking down to black people." Oops!
Right about now, are you thinking how glad you are that something like this never happened to you? Well, consider this: every word we speak is being heard by the spirit world!
The world’s wisest man had this to say about the power of the words that come out of our mouth:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
What he is saying here is that your words are forming a world in which you will have to live; you will face the consequences of the words you have spoken.
Now, words are powerful, but to make sure we are only speaking what we should, we must start with an examination of our thoughts. After all, our words are the fruit of our thoughts. Consider what Jesus said to the Jewish leaders (enlarging upon the words of Solomon):
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.””
Matthew 12:34-37 NKJV
It’s tragic that so few people spend any time or effort toward allowing the Holy Spirit to help them “gird up” their thoughts. And, as unrighteous thoughts are allowed to flourish, they will produce fruit in your mouth (your words).
In our portion from Psalms today we see David asking the Lord to help him train his thoughts toward being acceptable to Him. Being a man after God’s heart, he wanted every aspect of his life to please God.
Let’s not be sloppy with our thoughts and our words. Rather, let us know and understand what David knew:
Your “mic” is always on.
Day 36 with David -You cannot continue to deliberately defy God’s law without terrible consequences.
- araratchurch
- Apr 18, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 22, 2022
“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.”
Psalms 19:12-13 NKJV
I see a dangerous trend in our country. It seems that instead of solving the problem of crime, the powers that be have decided to just make it “go away” by redefining crime as not being crime, or to take away any real penalty for the same. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous on its face, but how else would you describe a system wherein you can deliberately shoot somebody and be out in a few hours, having paid no bail, under your own recognizance? In this way, there hasn’t been the actual changing of a law, but having removed most penalties, the authority of the law has been undermined.
Additionally, there is a very troubling trend toward not dealing with mental problems or illnesses, but rather, just re-defining them as being “normal.” Somehow removing something from the DSM of the American Psychiatric Association, has “solved” the problem of that disorder. I’d say that that way of thinking is “insanity.”
Now, I’m going to address what has really terrible repercussions—not only in this life—but the one to come. I have seen the trend in churches toward “solving” the sin problem by no longer categorizing things as sin which the Bible clearly describes as such. Now, we must recognize that we have all fallen short of the righteousness of God; that’s why we need a Savior and we have One in Jesus Christ. But, it seems to have become popular in many churches—in the name of being “seeker friendly”—to never speak of sin in any way. With this, the sense is given that you can live however you desire, paying no penalty, never repenting, because “Jesus paid it all.” This is not biblical.
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
Hebrews 10:26-27 NKJV
“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.”
II Peter 2:20 NKJV
These are just a couple of the many passages throughout the Scriptures, pointing us toward righteous living while warning of the consequences of the failure to do so.
In our portion from Psalms today we see David addressing the topic of “presumptuous (deliberate) sins.” He, having experienced the awful regret of going against the commands of the Lord, desperately desired to be cleansed from anything that gave place to such behavior.
Because the pull of our flesh is great, we must continually make sure that we are fully identified with Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And, that identification should result in our seeking after His way of being and doing (His righteousness). Let us not be found continuing in deliberate sin.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
You cannot continue to deliberately defy God’s law without terrible consequences.
- araratchurch
- Apr 18, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 22, 2022
“The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth. The Lord has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; Therefore He shall lift up the head.”
Psalms 110:1-7 NKJV
In case you haven’t noticed, the writers of the Bible are big on genealogy. We see long genealogies throughout the Bible (you know, those parts we skip over). Yes, the genealogies were very important: whose son you were, whose grandson you were, etc., were seen as critical to defining who you were. But why? We’ll, I believe it’s because covenants were given to family lines. For example, we know that the Lord gave Abraham the promise that through his Seed the whole earth would be blessed. That Seed was and is Jesus Christ!
In case you didn’t realize it, in Jesus’ day it was a stumbling block for the Jews that Jesus was not from the tribe of Levi. We know that the tribe of Levi was chosen as the one through which the priesthood came. Jesus was from Judah, as was David. However, David carried out the function—not only of King—but also of priest.
Now, one of the great mysteries of the Bible, a source of angst for anybody looking for a reason to not believe the Bible, is the mention of the King of Salem, Melchizedek. He is Appears “out of nowhere” in the book of Genesis when Abram (not yet referenced as Abraham), after having conquered the kings of four empires, was blessed by him and gave Melchizedek his tithe.
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.”
Genesis 14:18-20 NKJV
Though only mentioned one other place in the Old Testament (which we will get to in a moment), Melchizedek is mentioned several times in the book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews is explaining the legitimacy of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ in spite of the fact that he was not from the Levitical priesthood line. He ultimately uses this as a vehicle to explain the workings of our new covenant under a new Priest, this time, a forever Priest.
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”
Hebrews 7:1-3 NKJV
Whereas the priests of that day had to go in repeatedly before the Lord to seek forgiveness for themselves, as well as the sins of the people, Christ settled the penalty for sin, once and for all.
In our portion from Psalms today [we skip ahead to this Psalm in honor of Resurrection Sunday] we see David speaking prophetically of the King Who was to come. This King would also be a Priest after the order of Melchizedek. He needed no credentials in the flesh as He was appointed by God.
Today, as we observe Resurrection Sunday, we must understand that Jesus was risen from the dead to rule and reign forever and to serve as the only Priest we would ever need!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
Jesus is our forever King and Priest.