- araratchurch
- May 31, 2022
- 4 min read
“O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again! You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking. You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion.”
Psalms 60:1-3 NKJV
Have you ever known people who made a bold proclamation concerning the ineffectiveness of a particular diet, and yet you knew for a fact that they were not following the diet? Maybe we all need to take a moment and think on that…. But we know it’s the truth: people are all the time blaming “other things,” whether it be exercise equipment or diets, for being totally ineffective when the intervening variable, the thing that was really at fault, was the user of the diet or the user of the exercise equipment.
Someone once said, “no pain, no gain.” Well, it’s human nature that we want all the good from something, but we don’t want to be responsible to change anything WE are doing. Come to think about it, perhaps we’re not looking for a diet or exercise equipment, but rather, a “magic wand” we could just wave and get what we want without making any change.
Now, those of you who are familiar with modern computer technology, just put a hand in my direction while I vent. When you don’t know all the ins and outs of the pull down menus with the endless selections put before you in different computer programs (I think that word is even outdated), it can feel like the computer or the program is not working. But generally, the hard truth is that it is user error standing between you and success.
Sadly, the tendency for us to want to declare things, and even people, as being “ineffective,” rather than seeing our own failure to commit ourselves to a process, or to know what we are doing, or to make the needed changes, etc., does not stop short of our relationship with God.
Now, I’m nobody’s judge, but you know, what you know, and there have been times I have seen people accuse God over something (that was going wrong, or wasn’t the way they wanted it, or some physical illness), and I knew full well that they, themselves, were the guilty party (in terms of the results they were seeing). Again it wasn’t God‘s fault; it was user error.
We find the Lord often in His word, instructing His people in righteousness, instructing His people in how things work in a relationship with Him.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55:7 NKJV
Time and again, the Lord offered to get His people out of trouble, while instructing them as to how they had come to be out of favor.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.”
Isaiah 59:1-4 NKJV
Still, many people would rather accuse God of having arms too short to reach them than to admit that their disobedience has gotten them into their current pickle.
In our portion from Psalms today we see David praying urgently to the Lord for the restoration of His favor. We see basically the same prayer in Psalms 108. Rather than make accusations about the Lord’s “inadequacies,” David speaks of the Lord‘s promises, asking Him to restore favor to His children. David knew that whatever was wrong, it wasn’t the Lord’s fault.
Now, we’ve all ended up in situation‘s, circumstances, and so on, that, deep down inside, we knew we had had a large part in bringing it to pass. We must avoid placing blame anywhere else; and especially not to indict the Lord! The good news is that even when we are in a stew of our own making, the Lord will hear and help if we approach Him with humility and repentance, asking Him to restore His favor toward us.
You may be wondering if we still have a part in receiving God’s favor, given that the perfect sacrifice, and finished work, of Jesus Christ has bought us our salvation. Here it is: salvation is a gift from God, but make no mistake, we will still reap what we sow in terms of continued disobedience to God’s word and resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit. God has given us access to His favor but continuing to walk in disobedience brings big trouble and allows the enemy to devour your stuff!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
If the Lord’s favor “isn’t working” for you, it’s because of user error.
- araratchurch
- May 30, 2022
- 3 min read
“Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods (heavenly beings)? Do you judge fairly, O sons of men? No, in your heart you devise wrongdoing; On earth you deal out the violence of your hands. The [unyieldingly] righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance [of God]; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on the earth.””
Psalms 58:1-2, 10-11 AMP
I was in the hospital room of a dying man. I went and sat down in a chair near the door,
as someone else was talking over the man, lying asleep. Feeling moved by the Lord, I took the anointing oil out of my purse; and reaching over toward the door, I anointed the door frame, asking the Lord to sanctify the room. Just as I touched the door, a spirit spoke clearly inside of me saying, “Who are you?” I stated my association to the dying man then took authority over the spirit, commanding it to leave. What I did not know until later, was that the dying man, when conscious earlier in the day, had talked about seeing three men in black coats who had come to the room to take him out. It made him very afraid as he was struggling not to go with them. Well this was a hospital, there were no staffers in black coats that came to get him. Obviously this was a spiritual phenomenon, a spiritual fight.
This was not the first, nor would it be the last time, this type of thing has happened to me. I have spoken on other occasions about those times. It will suffice today to say that the spirit world isn’t bothered by the fact that so many people do not believe in it. As a matter fact, they would like to keep everyone ignorant of their presence and also ignorant of the remedy to their maneuverings.
You’ve probably heard the story of Daniel. As he was captive in Babylon, he began to seek the Lord for an answer to his questions concerning the captivity and liberation of his people. Twenty-one days passed and he heard nothing. But then, he did hear from an angel and also heard why the answer took so long:
“Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”
Daniel 10:12-13 NKJV
Spiritual warfare is real and did not end with the work of Jesus Christ. However, the work of Jesus Christ did give us authority over the works of darkness. But, you cannot/will not fight an enemy of whom you are ignorant.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.”
Ephesians 6:12 AMP
Paul and Silas encountered a young woman, with a spirit of divination, who her masters used for profit. She continually was crying out that people should listen to them. But the disciples did not want, nor need, the help of this spirit.
“And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”
Acts 16:18-19 NKJV
It is true that people can do evil deeds all by themselves because of the fallen nature of the unredeemed soul. But, make no mistake, it doesn’t take long for spirits from the realm of darkness to enter in and “help” with the business of evil.
In our portion from Psalms today we see David referencing the reality of evil and the reality of the evil in men being helped by evil spirits. He goes on to talk about the fact that ultimately they will not win because there is a greater, a higher, power than they, and He is on our side.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
The wicked have “help” from evil “friends” in high places; but the Most High is with us.
- araratchurch
- May 27, 2022
- 3 min read
“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds.”
Psalms 57:7-10 NKJV
So, I’ll start with a disclaimer. It is true that people are fickle about a lot of things. It is also true that when things are going bad, it tends to paint everything in your life toward negativity, uncertainty, and so on. However, no amount of adversity will generally provoke a reaction of contempt for things we have always loved. Think about it: you’ve had bad things happen in your life; but if you love your house and home, you didn’t suddenly look around and say, “I hate this place.” If you have a precious pet, you didn’t suddenly look at that animal and think, “What use are you to me?” If you have a loving family and things begin to go wrong at your job or you’re sick, you don’t look at your loving family and suddenly despise them. So, why is it that many times when adversity comes, people turn against the Lord? Is our appreciation of the Lord based on whether or not He has checked all the boxes for us today?
I think the truth is that when things go wrong, we blame the Lord for it. And, if we think that He is responsible for the bad things going on in our life, we do not feel motivated to praise Him. It’s kind of like the impudent child screaming, “I hate you!” to the parent who has displeased them.
You are probably familiar with the trials of Job. As if things weren’t bad enough for him, at one point, his own wife encouraged him to curse God and die. His response to her should serve as an indictment toward the fickle-hearted:
“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
Job 2:7-10 NKJV
I will not take this time to enter into a discussion about original Sin, our own bad decisions, and the myriad other factors having to do with why bad things happen to us. I will just say, God is good and worthy to be praised. Now, it is certainly true that we do not understand everything that happens in our lives. But nothing that happens to us should affect our love toward our Father and our praise toward Him.
On the 11th day of our “100 Days with David,” we talked about the fact that God wants our whole heart; but, He also wants our heart to be steadfast or faithful. You see, a steadfast heart toward the Lord has already settled the issue of whether He is good or not; it has already settled the issue of whether or not He can be trusted; it has already settled the issue of whether or not we are secure in His love. Therefore, the steadfast heart is never moved away from praise when we face adversity.
In our portion from Psalms today we see David declaring the steadfastness of his heart before the Lord and then instructing his own spirit to bring forth praise. It’s important to note that he wrote this in the midst of great pressure and adversity from his enemies. We find David often mentioning the steadfastness of his heart in his psalms. And, his steadfast heart, always awakened praise toward the Lord.
If adversity in your life has silenced your praise, perhaps the problem is a heart that is not faithful or steadfast. If that is the case, ask the Lord to forgive you for having a fickle heart and ask Him to make it faithful. Then, open your mouth and give Him praise!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
A faithful heart awakens praise.