May 22, 2013

Psalms 7:1 O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me.

:2 Lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

:3 O Lord my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands,

:4 if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my enemy without cause,

:5 Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me: Yes, let him trample my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

:6 Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies; rise up for me to the judgment You have commanded!

:7 So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You; for their sakes, therefore, return on high.

:8 The Lord shall judge the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me.

:9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.

:10 My defense is of God, who saves the upright in heart.

:11 God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

:12 If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.

:13 He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.

:14 Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.

:15 He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made.

:16 His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.

:17 I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the Name of the Lord Most High.

Cush was going around spreading gossip about David. David knew the gossip wasn’t true, but had no way to prove it.

Have you ever been the target of a lie? Usually you are the last to hear it. The one spreading it knows just whose ear to whisper it in to have it travel far and wide. When it finally reaches you, you can hardly believe what is being said. The more you defend yourself, the deeper the suspicion.

What can we do when our integrity is attacked? Do what David did. Ask God to defend us. Let the consequences come on the people who are speaking lies about us. Verses 15-16 say he fell in the ditch he was digging. David stopped trying to defend himself and let God do it. God must have silenced Cush cause we don’t read of him again. God doesn’t do things half way. He’s the Most High God, even over our enemies. We can have peace when we let God protect us.

Chuck Swindoll said, “Each morning this week, as you look at yourself in the bathroom mirror, don’t forget to look at your tongue. Hold your mouth open long enough to realize that slab of skin, membranes, and muscles has the power to injure.. to stab .. to kill. Pray for control.

Ps 107:7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.

By honor and dishonor, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these are you helped on your way.

Song of Solomon 1:16 Behold, You are handsome, my beloved! Yes, pleasant! Also our bed is green.

No matter what is going on in our life, Jesus is always beautiful to us!

Ps 107:1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Even when we fail His mercy is there.

Duet 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

Only God is perfect, but each day if we allow Him to, He makes us a little bit more like Him.

Ps 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

2 Sam 22:33 God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.

:34 He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.

:35 He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

:36 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.

God can only by your refuge if you choose to retreat to His presence.

Judges 7:2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, “My own hand has saved me’.

:3 Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying,”Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.

How come it is so hard for us to comprehend if God is on our side, we don’t need anyone else.

Is 25:8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

Ps 18:30 As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

In the midst of disasters it is a challenge sometimes to believe that God is both good and sovereign. But disasters, etc don’t change Who or What God is. We must cling to Him in those times also believing His way though not always understood is perfect.

1 Pet 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exhalt you in due time.

Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, “ I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

In Jesus is everything we need both for this life and the one yet to come. Fix your eyes upon Him, no matter what is going on around you.

1 John 3:20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Eph 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “ Now salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

2 Cor 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Whenever your heart condemns you, call out to Jesus. Your heart and mind are battlefields. We must use faith to stop the attacks.

Jn 17:21 That they all may be one, as You, Father are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Since you became a believer you are no longer independent , you belong to Christ.

Are we as close to Christ as He is to God?

The things we go through either make us sweeter, better, or they make us fault finding, more insistent on going our own way. It all depends on our relationship with Christ.