Tag: Destruction

Establish your Heart

“For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”

“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

“Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”

Psalms 40:1  I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.  Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

James 5:7  Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.  As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Psalms 37:23   The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

Psalms 119:133  Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me

Acts 2: 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Psalms 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,  who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,  who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,  who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s

2 Thessalonians 2:9  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

Jonah 2:8  Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

What does it mean to establish your heart? When you read these verses today we can see many reasons why we should but what does an established heart look like lived out in everyday life?  Does it worry or fret?  Is it anxious or impatient? Is it angry or unforgiving? Does it look to others for resolution or refuge?  Does it complain or whine?  An established heart rests in God alone and gives all it’s cares to Him.  This life seeks to grow in knowing more and more about God and His purpose for their life.  Praise is on their lips.  His word is always on their heart and mind.  They have joy, peace, rest, comfort, hope, and a refuge that cannot be moved.  Strive to have an established heart that is rooted deep in humbly serving, honoring and obeying God.

Fret Not

“He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.”

Psalms 37:7  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Psalms 37:35  I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.  But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.

Psalms 55:23  But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

Job 20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.  The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.  This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”

Job 27: 19  He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.  Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.  The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.  It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight

Isaiah 58:14  then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Psalms 25:13   His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

Isaiah 60:21  Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.

Hebrews 11:16  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Revelation 5:10  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

I found this commentary and and thought it so appropriate for these verses today: This is a psalm, grappling with the problem of the inequality of human life and the apparent failure of God to reward His servants and punish His enemies as they deserve. Life and immortality, where we know that the balance will be readjusted, had not then been brought to light, and therefore the solution was far harder before the advent of our Lord than for us.

But though the psalmist’s solution is therefore not complete, his teaching of the blessedness of absolute trust in God’s providence is very delightful. Fret not thyself; that is, do not give way to passionate resentment or bitter disappointment. Live in God; find your delight in contemplating His nature and His works; roll on Him the decision of your life-choices; trust in Him to supply all your need and work in your behalf. Be silent and rest

Eye’s Open

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Psalms 27:3  Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

Psalms 52:2  Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah  The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

2 Kings 6:15-17   When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Chronicles 20:15   And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.

Isaiah 41:11-12   Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.  You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.

Isaiah 54:16-17  Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;  no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”

Awesome words of encouragement for us today.  Time after time God has seen to it that these words are recorded to give us hope in times of our trials.  The battles we face are His.  Yet do we believe this or do we try to go it alone and in our own strength?  Look at the warning also given to those who trust in themselves and give no thought to or about God. “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!”  We have a place of refuge in God.  We have a place of strength in God.  We have a place of hope in God.  Why is it we always seem to try it on and in our own strength.  How many times do we need to fail in these attempts before we choose God to be the first place we run to?  From my own experience I am not sure I have learned this fully.  There are times my first response is to hit it head on alone.  Oh that we would first run to the one who is able – God!

Precept upon Precept

“And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken”

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

 

Psalms 9:15
The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

Psalms 7:15
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

Psalms 35:8
Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction!

Proverbs 5:22
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

Proverbs 22:8
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

Proverbs 6:2
if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself

Proverbs 12:13  An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble

Isaiah 28:13
And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Psalms 83:17-18
Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.

Our Christian walk is either getting closer to God day by day or getting further away day by day.  There appears to be no ground where we can stand that isn’t on the path of one or the other.  Both paths have something in common, they both have a single time point where there is a step closer or a set away.  I like what is said in Isaiah: “And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little”.  Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little are exactly the steps taken in either walking on a path closer to God or one that is moving away.  Do you want to have a clue on what path or direction your on?  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks – what is it that comes out of your mouth most of the time?  What are the thoughts that roam around in your head?  Do you find opportunity to speak God into the lives around you?  Does His word come to you while you are listening to songs or driving or listening to others speak?  Start a new day – purpose to read 5 min of His word each morning and let the beginning of “Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little guide your path from here to that time when time on this world nears it’s end and eternity is knocking at your door step.

The Day is Near

“Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.”

 

Joe 1:15
Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes

Joel 2:1
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,

Psa 37:13
but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Isaiah 13:6-9
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

Ezekiel 7:3
Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations.
And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

James 5:9
Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Revelation 6:17
for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

I wonder if our commitment to God would be different if we looked at God’s wrath rather than His love.  Think about what is in store for those who have not heard, or have neglected/rejected, or who are just playing christianity. If we believe in His love because of what is told to us about it in scripture then we also have to believe in His coming wrath.  If we believe in His coming wrath and what will happen to those who don’t believe wouldn’t our heart ache to reach them?  How would we reach out to them?  God’s word says “how can they believe unless they hear, and how can they hear unless someone tells them.”  How can we reach out to someone if the word of God is not in our heart?  How can we talk of God and the great things He has done, is doing, and will do if we do not spend time in His word?  How can we be led by God in our conversations and be a light unto a dark world if we do not spend time in His word?  How do we tell others of what God is doing in our lives if we are not spending time in His word?  How do we know His promises of blessing, judgement, and wrath if we do not spend time in His word?  How do we hear that quiet small voice pleading to lead us if we do not spend time in His word?  Scripture says that His word is sharper than a double edged sword and can divide between our thoughts and intends.  If we say our hearts desire is to live to humbly serve and honor God -How can this happen if we are not in His word?  EXACTLY we can not at all expect any of this understanding, knowledge, heart directing and leading if we do not spend time in His word.  Try spending just two days this week reading His word for 5 minutes and write down what God is telling your heart for 5 minutes.  I pray His Holy Spirit will open our heart and mind to an ever increasing and wonderfully deep understanding of His grace, mercy and love.

Bring To Light

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart

Joshua 6:18
But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.

Deuteronomy 20:17
but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God

1 Chronicles 2:7
The son of Carmi:Achan, the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing

Joshua 7:10
The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies.

1 Corinthians 4:5
wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart

There will always be temptations before us.  Some of those we can turn from and never look back again.  Others are seam to be right in front of us all the time and we can’t seem to shake them from our thoughts and wants.  Each day seems to be a battle against our will and what God wants for us.  Some of this want comes from our sinful nature and desire.  The barrier to acting on these desires is God’s word and our desire and faith to honor and glorify Him.  However we live in a sinful culture which easily can easily weaken our barrier if this is what is feeding our heart, mind, and soul.  Think about it we spend all our waking hours in a lost world and what it sees as important.  Trust me most if not all of what it chases after is contrary to God’s honor and glory.  This is why we are continually reminded to write His laws and promises on our heart.  Why we are reminded to meditated on these day and night. Why we are to write these on our door posts and teach them to our children.  Why we are to continually worship Him.  Why we are to be in continual prayer with Him. How are we to be a light to this world if those around us see no difference in us.  How are we to recognize what is right, pure, holy, safe, wonderful, worth pursuing, if we don’t spend time with God and His word.  Trust me one day a week in study, prayer, and fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ will never equip us to fight the battles we face each day.

Why Is There So Much Unrest

See that no one leads you astray

Sometimes I wonder at all of the chaos and trouble around the world and ask “Why can’t people get along”.  Why is there so much killing and people dying?  Is all of this God’s plan?  In Isaiah 14 it says that when world leaders who end up in hell see satan they look at him and say:

“But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home

Since creation, God has been in control and though I do not fully understand it, I do trust in and through Him.  I hold on to His promises – I will never leave you or forsake you – No one can snatch you out of my hand – Come to Me all who are heavy with burdens and I will give you rest – For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but will have everlasting life – I will be a guide to your path – I will bless you and keep you- I will return for you – I will give you peace, hope, faith, love, joy, comfort, and be ever present in time of trouble….. and the list goes on.  His word says do not be alarmed as these things must take place before He returns. The best we can do in this life is to keep our eyes, heart, soul and mind focused on Him and live to honor and glorify the author and finisher of life – Trust God

Matthew 24:3
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains

Acts 1:7
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority

1 Thessalonians 2:1
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction

2 Chronicles 15:6
Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.

Set Your Mind on Things Above

We see, we hear, and we want. The temptation to keep our eyes on what we can see is always before us.  It is understandable.  Yet God wants us to see with our heart open to what His word is telling us. He wants us to listen to His leading (that quiet small voice speaking light into our life). He wants us to want (desire) Him.  This world would tempt/tell us that life is about us and getting what we want here.  God tells us that we are just passing through this world and there is a place in heaven for those who choose, in this life, to live to honor and glorify Him – denying self and humbly serving/following Him.

Matthew 16:23
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man

Romans 8:5
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace

Philippians 3:18
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.