Tag: Flesh

New mercies every morning

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

“If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

“It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Psalms 31:19  Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

Psalms 36:7-10  How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.  For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.  Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

Psalms 73:1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

Psalms 73:24-26  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Isaiah 64:4   From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

Lamenations 3:21  But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Habakkuk 2:3    If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Colossians 3:2-4  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Setting your mind on things above, knowing new mercies are coming with every new day, having a pure heart seeking God, and waiting quietly does not always seem to be the path we take.  Our minds get focused on what we see and perceive immediately in front of us.  This is not by faith but by sight.  It takes faith and hope in God to seek and know God is in control.  It is in His sovereign power and good timing that we trust and wait. When it seems you are lost in the confusion and darkness this world has to offer, seek the light of the world, God!

Chosen Portion

“I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.”

 

Psalms 16:5
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Lamentations 3:24
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Psalms 23:5
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalms 119:57
The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.

Psalms 142:5
I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Wow, what words of encouragement and hope when He is chosen, relied on, trusted in, and desired.  Listen to how men of God humbly talked about and described God in their life: My portion, my strength, my refuge, my hope, my joy, my instructor, my security, my counsellor. Is it possible we have so many distractions that it keeps us from a deep desire to know and serve Him more each day.    We all go through times of busyness yet there are those who seem to have found a way to keep God first in the midst of all of it. What distracts you from seeking and walking with Him? Whatever it is – make a mental decision and choice to begin new today with a heart desire to honor, glorify, serve, and obey God – place these first over all the other things of this life that can distract you.

Behold it was corrupt

“And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”

 

Psalms 12:1
Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.  Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

Psalms 6:4
Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

Psalms 54:1
O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.

Proverbs 20:6
Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

Genesis 6:12
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Isaiah 1:9
If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.

Matthew 24:12
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Isaiah 59:4
No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Job 22
They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

At times we feel alone and like the only one who is in need of God, who trusts Him, who calls out to Him.  We don’t hear many speak of the fact that they call out to God in their distress/trouble/issues.  What we do hear is how they have reached out to everyone or anything but God in search of help.  What would our lives look like if we continually reached out to God first and then patiently waited for Him.  Would we speak of how we cried out to Him?  Would others be encouraged to seek God?  Would we find our path and issue more of a blessing than a curse?  I am thankful for how David calls out to God and that God’s word tells us what others think and do apart from Him.  They do not think God exists, or if He does He does not have any control, power, or strength over the situation.  We can be the one that proclaims His love, mercy and grace to a lost world, but first we must believe it, grow in it, and obey it.

Be diligent

“But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?”

Judges 16:1
Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Judges 16:17
And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.

Romans 6:21
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

Romans 7:5
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

These are quotes from an article I was reading recently and go hand in hand with the scripture today.  Sampson lead for twenty years and then for some reason he lost focus on God and more on what he wanted for himself.  A good thing to remember to keep us diligent at staying in scripture and living each moment of each day in the spirit.
1. “there are consequences when people open up a doorway to evil into their lives”

2. “Religion is viewed as outdated and not very exciting. So evil can be invited in directly or indirectly”

3. ”If the house has been swept clean but no place has been made for God, the condition can become much worse”

4. “There is still an emptiness within us that is being filled with addictive behavior such as drugs and pornography”

“The decline in faith goes hand in hand with the rise in evil”

 

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.

Live for God

Do we do a “pretend” church life of honoring and glorifying God?  A life where we think honoring and glorifying God boils down to a single event of making sure we are in church on Sunday.  The purpose of being in church is to corporately  worship God.  Somehow I think many miss this purpose and instead use Sunday as a means to be right before God.  God wants our entire life’s desire to be Him and His plan/purpose in our life.  This desire is 7 days per week not just one.  Don’t water down the gospel in your life – keep it pure – live all seven days of the week for God.

Matthew 15:7
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men

Matthew 23:15
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves

Colossians 2:20
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world,do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ( referring to things that all perish as they are used) —according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self- made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh

Ezekiel 33:31
And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain