Psalm 21 – And then?

Helped, he’s hollering Hosannas

So you have asked God to help you. You have prayed without ceasing. You have asked as many people as you can to pray with you. You have gone forward in church for prayer, maybe many times. Finally God has stretched out His arm and done wonders in your life as he has helped you.

You were far from God. Caught up in religion. Caught up in sin. Lost in unbelief. The Spirit of God drew you to Christ and you have been saved.

And then? How do you respond?

A quick thank you? A fleecing praise God? That’s true for most people. Some don’t even bother but take the blesssing for granted. We grab hold of the new life. Revel in the blessing we received. Enjoy our new found freedom and being helped move along with our lives.

Imagine if we spent as much time, energy and resource thanking and praising God as what we spend asking.

The Christian life is a life of praise. Having realised what God has actually done for us we are both forever gratefull and in awe of Him. Now that we have access to the throne room and can gaze upon His glory, we stand with open mouths overwhelmed by His majesty and blown away by His grace.

Or do we? Has religion so numbed us that we miss it?

The next step in our lives is always stepping into praise. Continuous praise. Continually being aware that every step we take is ordered by His Word, made possible by His provision, made do-able by His strength and victorious in His Name.

Stop right now and think of what God has done for you. Before the beginning of time and even right this moment. no matter what your circumstances you will find something to praise God for, even just who He is.

You lift Him up in your praises and He lifts you up with Him. Your praises are the updraft you soar on.

I don’t know how your year is going. My Dad died on New Year’s eve. I had a heart attack, a member of my family is already fighting and trying to create havoc around my father’s will, I am not able to get home until the end of this month. The day after I get back I will lead the memorial service for my Dad. Enough to make anyone feel down. But guess what? My dad was an amazing man of faith in Jesus Christ. I can rejoice in the knowledge that right now he is with the Lord. Doing his memorial is to celebrate the grace and goodness of God, I can’t wait to do it. I survived the heart attack by the grace of God and His healing power has me up and about slowly already. While I am not at home to deal with all the issues, God has blessed me with an amazing time where I am. As for my family member, well nothing can separate me from the love of God and I have the privilege to pray for her.

I hope your year is going better so far. I have so much to sing praises and give thanks for but I am praising Him for what He has done for you to.

So God has helped you? And then?

Psalm 18 – Sing

I sing to GOD, the Praise-Lofty, and find myself safe and saved.

Many might say I can’t sing. In fact some years ago when I was Pastoring a church in Johannesburg I would sing my heart out and the sound guy would,  unbeknown to me, turn my mic off.

But sing I will. In church, at home alone, while driving my car. I don’t mind the fact that otheres think I can’ hold a tune or have no rythm or that my voice  is all over the place and guess what, neither does God, He actually loves my singing. He even applauds me and calls for an encore.

You think I’m joking? Well let me tell you that He will do the same for you. Try it.Sing praises to God. Sing a song you know, sing along with a cd, make up your own words but sing praises to God and you will experience His joy.

No matter how down you feel, or how much you are hurting. No matter how lost or lonely. No matter how needy if you start singing praises to God He lifts you up with His applause, encourages you with His love of what you are doing and makes you feel like a super star.

Singing the praises of God is putting you in the exact place you were created to be. Doing exactly what you were created to do. It lifts you up above every situation. It makes you so aware of your place in God’s heart. Safe and saved says David.

Right now God is sitting in the VIP seat waiting for you to take the stage. The spotlight is alreadt lighting up the place you will stand for Him to see you. The curtain has been torn open. Just start singing.

You will be blessed.

Psalm 16 – Good Friends

And these God-chosen lives all around- what splendid friends they make!

A man is known by the company he keeps.

We should keep the company of the chosen. Our fellowship, our unity is with the body of Christ. You are one with Christ and one with Christ in the lives of fellow Christians. You fellowship with Him through them. You are “one of them”. Unlike Peter you are happy with the association.

Man naturally builds his support group from like minded or same boat people. Alcoholics Anonymous being the classic example. People with the same struggle supporting each other. Man helping man to be like himself but without guarantee that he himself is OK. In a sense the blind leading the blind.

Christians seek their companionship with the chosen for a similar reason, the free and living encouraging each other. The difference is we seek people that can take us higher, not just help us be stable. The companionship of the chosen inspires, uplifts and rightly influences each other.

More than that though, is that in the company of the chosen you will always find Jesus. He is the core of the company. The strength with which the company reaches out. His love and grace are always present and available amongst the chosen.

They make such good friends. Find them as friends. Surround yourself with believers who will help you build your faith. With people walking close to God that you might hold their hands and walk there too. People who will be Christ to you.

Jesus was known as a friend of the sinners . His relationship with the Father was strong enough that those close to Him and those observing Him knew He had something that made Him different. He was a friend to them but clearly never of them. He surrounded Himself first with the chosen as his companions and then from the position of strength reached out .

We need to be a friend to sinners. We need to be able to walk among them in order to show God’s love and grace to them. We need to show them that we do not judge them. We need to manifest Christ to them. Surround ourselves with the chosen to support us and then use that strength to reach out.

Jesus teaches us that being a great friend is the embodiment of love. He proved it. Here the Psalmist says that the chosen make such good friends. Is he just mocking the church for not being who they say they are?

Who are your friends? Have you identified the chosen of God and surrounded yourself with them. Do they influence you in the right direction? Are they there when you need them?

To whom are you a friend? Are you not the chosen of God? Prove it to the those who need you?

Psalm 15 – Is it law or Grace? (How to behave at the party)

“Walk straight, act right, tell the truth.
“Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor;
despise the despicable. “Keep your word even when it costs you,
make an honest living, never take a bribe. “You’ll never get blacklisted if you live like this.”

The most powerful statement of Grace you will find in the Bible is when Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more”.

Some people think that any statement telling them not to sin is going back to the law. We must remember though that the law does not make sin, but was added to sin. Taking the law out of the equation does not mean there is no sin, it simply means that the law has been fulfilled regarding you. The law demanded a death to pay for your sins and God gave it one. So your sins will no longer be under the law. But sin remains.

Under the law you were a slave to sin. You could never be righteous. Here is where grace happens. We have two accounts , the woman and also the man at the pool, where Jesus shows great mercy to people. In the one instance He removes condemnation and in the other He brings healing. When those He was dealing with were free His next words to them were to sin no more.

The psalmist tells us that in order to be in the presence of God we must be righteous. We know that no one could under the law. Now in Christ Jesus we have been made righteous. We now have the freedom to enter in at will. We have absolute access to the throne room. No condemnation. No death. But dear believer, sin still cannot enter into the presence of God. He had mercy on your sin, let you in, washed you clean, set you free, your sins are removed and forgotten. But sin is still detestable, an abomination to God. You are free but sin is not.

When Jesus tells you to sin no more, grace reminds you of how free you are. Grace reminds you that you are righteous. Grace gives you the choice. Live in the house of the Lord or make sin your companion. Sit at God’s feet or sit in the stench of sin. Rule and reign in righteousness and glory with Him or give yourself over to sin again. You are free.

When God asks you to sin no more He is not imposing any law, He is telling you to be what He has made you. He is encouraging you to take up the freedom. It is a gentle blowing on your wings encouraging you to fly. It is telling you, you are righteous and holy.

The righteous are not just forgiven and washed. The righteous live in the presence of God.

In God’s house there should be no sin. Here is grace – your’s is removed from you.

Psalm 14 – Dreams

Night is coming for them, and nightmares, for God takes the side of victims.
Do you think you can mess with the dreams of the poor? You can’t, for God makes their dreams come true.

 Ah! Dreams. We all have them.

For some dreams of grandeur. Dreams that stem from selfish desire and based on personal gain. The need for fame and fortune.

For others dreams that are just garbage. Junk. Pizza dreams. Our imaginations stirred and disturbed by the physical.

For others nightmares. Fear rising up. The fear of failure. The fear of the physical.

And then there are the dreams of the poor. Dreams the Psalmist says you cant mess with. What makes them different?

Simply this. When Jesus said he came to bring good news to the poor it wasn’t about earthly wealth. It was about hope. He came to give you and I, the broken, the hopeless something that we can take hold of as sure and certain in our lives. He came to bring abundance. He came to make the wealth of the Kingdom available.

The dreams of the poor are influenced by one thing and one thing only. The Word of God. As God by His Spirit stirs up an appreciation of, and faith in His promises,  you have a picture of the future. Asleep or awake your mind can clearly see through the fog a life that God has chosen and secured for you. You can see yourself there.

God’s word carries you forward into what would have been the unknown by making it known to you. The eyes of your spirit showing you what they can see. The dream, the picture of future reality.

The dreams of the poor are not the simple desires of the poor. They are the poor realising the desires of God for them.

Is it any wonder then that this passage tells us that God makes the dreams of the poor come true. God has spoken to men through dreams since the beginning. Revealing Himself, His desire, His will. He is not “answering” or responding to your dreams, he is giving them to you. He is reminding you of what he has, is and is going to do.

Let the poor say I am rich is not about your bank account. It is about your dreams. It is about seeing what God has in store for you. The rich have nightmares about loosing what they have. The poor have dreams of having what God wants for them.

Dream the dreams of the poor. Let the Word of God speak to you and reveal God’s promises in action in your life. Look to them and take hold of what they offer. Check them against the record of the Word. They are of God.

God will do what he says he will do. Dream. Dream big. The bigger the dream, the more you see the promises for yourself, the more God is able.

Dream the impossible dream. God has given it to you so it will become possible when you can see it.

Psalm 14 – Let us pray

Don’t they know anything, all these impostors? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this- Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray?

Prayer – the core element of Christian life. The meat in our relationship with God.

Prayer – the activity Jesus was so busy with. The power exchange between Him and the Father.

Prayer – The aspect of Christian life that has a direct instruction manual.

Prayer – The only thing that moves God into action.

Is it any wonder that the New Testament talks so much of prayer? Encouraging above all the prayer for others. Calling on us to make a meaningful difference in the world, changing circumstances, interceding for people and governments, bringing God into everyday life.

It used to be that prayer was also the central focus of the church. People congregated to pray. Groups of believers joining together in agreement for the desire to see God change the world around them. Prayer meetings were just that but every meeting was in a way a prayer meeting. People went to attend prayer and even had specially printed prayer books to help them. In a normal Worship service, Sunday meeting a major part of the Liturgy was prayer.

How that has changed. Performance has taken centre stage. Ministry now simply means a public display by the leaders of their gifts and “anointing”. Church has become a different experience where people go to receive blessing as individuals but seldom be a blessing as a group. Preach an awesome word. Deliver a powerful prophecy. Lay hands on some. These are now the marks of a good meeting and prayer has slipped into the cracks. In many services today there is no public or corporate prayer at all.

Prayer seeks to put in rather than get out. Prayer seeks to focus on God rather than on self. Prayer lifts up others above our own needs. Yet prayer puts you in the most central position of all in the Throne room of God. Through prayer you are the incense that stirs God’s senses.

Private prayer, closet prayer is vital to your spiritual health. Spending time talking to your Father, bearing your soul to Him and allowing Him to speak into your life is the only way you can grow and sustain your spiritual life.

Corporate prayer, public prayer is vital to the health of the Body. The body is never more united than when it kneels down together and says “Our father”.  Recognising its head and its life blood. Pulling as it were the very being of God into its midst. The church is never more powerful than when their agreement accomplishes its purpose.

But the greatest prayer flows out of these two when prayers are prayed for others. When the individual and the body, aware of the position they have before God, reach out for the good and welfare of others.When your prayers place you so in God’s presence that you cannot but bring the world before him and plead for it.

Prayer changes governments. Prayer changes people. Prayer saves. Prayer sets free. Prayer provides. Prayer heals. Prayer protects. Prayer opens doors. Prayer changes the world.

Shouldn’t we have more prayer going on? Shouldn’t we personally be praying more? Shouldn’t prayer return to the heart of ministry? Shouldn’t prayer form the basis of Church life?

Let us pray. Let us kneel down. Let us change the world. Let us Pray. Let us hear the thunder of God. Let us bring the power of God to work in our favour. Let us pray.

Put prayer back where it belongs. Let us pray. As Paul often writes “I am praying for you, please pray for me”

Psalm 14 – It’s what’s inside that comes out

A David psalm. Bilious and bloated, they gas, “God is gone.” Their words are poison gas, fouling the air; they poison Rivers and skies; thistles are their cash crop.

 OH MY GOD! What was that? A shout of triumph? An irrepressible cry of ecsatacy?  A shout of praise? The beginning of a line in worship? A cry for help?

Or is it just a phrase used commonly to express punctuation or some form of feeling?

Everywhere you turn today there is blasphemy. The name of God is not sacred on TV, in public speaking and journalism. People use the names of God as swear words. People mock God, make jokes about Him.

People talk and act as if God were some commoner who may once have existed. Is “God” a word to be used without reference to anyone. Yet surely when You say “MY” God you are talking of something personal?

And you hear it. And you hear it. And you hear it. And what happens?

If you, like me, have a relationship with the one true living real God in person then every time you hear His Name your spirit becomes excited. Hearing the name of your beloved, hearing the lover of your soul being called stirs you deep within, preparing you for his presence. Your love for Him makes you eavesdrop every conversation that mentions His name.

When you hear His name visions of joy and peace and freedom and power and healing and prosperity flood your mind.

But when you hear the blasphemy and the loose usage  your spirit screams out against it. That’s my God! You can’t talk like that. That’s my God! How can you say things like that. But you keep on hearing it and what happens.

You become desensitised. Your ears become dull to it and your spirit become quiet. And next thing you know you are doing it too. You begin to hear other Christians going ‘Oh my God’ for no real reason and begin to do it too.

That’s what foul air does. At first people cannot breath but stick around and you will adapt. That’s what poison does it infiltrates the space and fills the occupants with it’s sickness. That’s what pollution does. It kills and destroys everything it touches.

This foul air, this poison and pollution is being billowed out of the hearts of men. It is what is inside them that flows out of their mouths. Telling you what they are and trying to force their lack of belief into your world. Have you noticed how quickly a group discussion will stamp out talk of our saviour but so freely each mouth will spew forth this poison. Men become angry when faced with talk of Jesus but are happy to use His name as a speech crutch.

Your guard against this revolting practice is to guard His Name within you. Meditate on His name. Meditate on the meaning of His Name. Call on His name, use it to express your self to Him. Be secure in the knowledge of what His name does. Hold His name tight in your heart and soul and mind. Love His Name.

Don’t turn a deaf ear. Don’t pretend it’s not an issue. Let what is inside of you be stirred up. Rebel against it. Speak His Name with reverence and holy pride. Override the blasphemers with praise and testimony of the Name above all names.

Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world. Don’t let the world belittle Him.

Listen to what is coming out of your own mouth. Is it the casual tossing around of words or is it glorifying God.

It’s what is inside that comes out

Psalm 13 – YOU! YOU! YOU!

So no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.
I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms- I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers.

The image of a child diving into the arms of someone waiting to catch them is always a wonderful picture of simple faith. The child knows the catcher, can see the waiting arms and just believes that the combination is safe.

For the believer that has decided to turn to God and embrace the God promised life a similar faith action is required. The difference though is that it needs to happen almost before we really know God. We can’t go about studying God and getting to know Him and then deciding if we can trust Him or not. At the same time God has made Himself know to all of creation so in fact you can know Him.

You need to get the revelation of God’s existence. This is putting yourself in perspective. God is almighty. God is sovereign. God is who God says He is. Without Him, His Word, His Promises, His power my life will be short.

You need to get a revelation of God’s arms. Believe that He has and that He can. If you trust Him with your life He is faithful.

And then you need to dive off the ground you currently stand on head first out into the freedom that beckons and awaits and is prepared for you. Something however needs to carry you. Something needs to give you the uplift, the draft needed to make you soar into His arms.

It’s called praise!

The key to success is understanding whose success we are talking about. In ME! ME! ME! it s all about me. My success. As long as I make it. But there is just no substance nor sustainability to that success. When however the success is attributed to God. When my emphasis is on what He has done. What He can do. What He has promised. I, in Christ, get caught up in that success. The higher I lift Him up the higher He lifts me up with Him.

You see God has already got you. He already caught you when you fell. His arms have already closed around you. You are already safely tucked away in His hand.

All that you need to do is have that change mind that says not me but YOU.

Who do you say He is?

Are you shouting “look at me” or are you looking at God and singing YOU! YOU! YOU!

It is your destiny in Christ to succeed. Put your faith and trust fully in Him. Forget yourself, make it about Him. Sing His praises. Give testimony of His faithfulness.Tell Him who He is. Tell the world who He is. Tell Him how you believe Him. Tell the world why.

Change you focus from ME to YOU and watch your world change.

Psalm 13 – What life?

Take a good look at me, GOD, my God; I want to look life in the eye

Immortality. The desire of man since whenever. The claim of many Christians. Yet you must ask what it is.

The desire to live forever???? Do you seriously want to go on as you are without end. Sickness in your body and ravishing people all around you. War! Murder! Rape! Racism! Common everyday events. Poverty! Toil! Struggle! Is that how you want to live? Forever?

Or is it fear of death? You would rather carry on the way the world is than die? Fear of death is simply a lack of knowledge of God. Being insecure in yourself and unsure of your true relationship with God. Is that how you want things? Forever fighting your way forward.

Or is it about you being invincible? Perceiving yourself above everything and having greater rights. Constantly  claiming your position and forcing yourself on the world? Is that what you desire. To be great amongst men despite the eternal struggle and insecurity?

David certainly did not want to die. But it wasn’t the not dying  that was his motivation in coming to God, it was his desire to live in God’s presence. Not wanting to die is not the same as wanting to live.We do however need to know what the life is that is available to you.

Not what you are experiencing now!

The Word of God tells us that this life in His presence will be a place of rest. No more struggle. No more toil. No more living by the work of your hands and the sweat of your brow. A life where the Lion and the Lamb lay down together. Peace! A place where the Son always shines. A place of permanent joy.

In this life there will be no more sickness, no death, no crying, no sorrow. There will be no lack, no poverty, no corruption, no oppression.

The life that David was asking for was in no way related to living as he was forever. He wanted to see the life that God promises.

Take a good look at me Lord. Inviting God to examine you. To examine your heart, to examine your motives is a massive step but if you want that life it has to happen. God strips away everything that is part of this life that prevents you from enjoying that life. It is called dying to self in the Bible. The corrupt  imperfection has to be removed completely before incorruptible perfection can manifest. So you can’t go on living as you you are.

The issues of sin and guilt must be fully dealt with. You must have a certainty of yourself in God’s eyes. Nothing that keeps you at a distance. The celebration of death being conquered lies not so much in the physical as in your mind. When you no longer fear death, death can no longer have a hold on you.

It’s not about living forever. It’s not about your position in the Throne room. It is the fullness of the Kingdom come. It is that point when every knee is bowing that the God man relationship is fully restored and you wanting to be a part of it. Being forever in His presence.

God is offering you life. Turn to Him that His face can shine upon you. Realise what he is offering and want it. He bought it for you. Take it.

I shall live and not die. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Though I die yet shall I live. However I will not die but live. Death is conquered. Death is swallowed up by life.

 Want that life.

Psalm 13 – Decision time

A David psalm. Long enough, GOD- you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough.
Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me.
Take a good look at me, GOD, my God; I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.
I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms- I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers.

The truth is that when we feel so much like God has turned His head away from us, it is really us looking in a different direction.

We are faced daily with tough decisions. Standing at cross roads and intersections and making the decision of which option to take. So much distraction. So many circumstances. So many now moment realities .Being practical. Doing your best. Taking chances. Throwing more money at it.

And of course all the advice and counselling of others. All the teaching and claims of testimony.

This is real life.

Our psalmist this morning reached a point when the reality of his situation was too much for him and he could bear it no longer. He knew he had to make a decision. A decision not based on what his next step should be but rather about his end goal. You need to know first where it is you want to be before you can figure out how to get there.

He wanted the Life that God promises. He new what he had was not it and nothing he was doing was about to change that. He had been bogged down blaming God for ignoring him but when he stopped and decided what it was that he wanted that all changed.

You can keep on keeping on struggling through, blaming everything you can name, fighting your way through the fog. Stay on the path you are travelling and do you best. Who knows where it will take you or if you will even reach the “end”.

Or today you can make a decision! I want the Life God has promised me. I will therefore abandon the choices that brought me to this point and make a decision. A decision that will lead me down the path that has been specially prepared to ensure I reach and fulfil my destiny in Christ.

David knew the only way to this goal was to totally give himself over to God in faith. Faith in what God has already done and faith in the promises needed for the road ahead. He was going to trust God in every word God has spoken and take by faith the answers to his prayers. No longer the thought that God has turned His head away but totally convinced that he was walking with God.

What a difference the decision made. From whiner to winner. From self pity to praise. From depression to celebration.

All based on the decision to put his faith and trust in The Lord Jesus Christ to bring him into the fullness of Life.

How about you this morning as you read this Psalm. Standing at a decision point? Feeling like maybe you are not on the right road to where you want to be? Maybe not yet sure where that even is.

KNOW THIS! Jesus is standing in front of you. Waiting to take your hand and lead you and guide you and where necessary carry you to where God’s will and plan for your life can be manifested. Wherever you are right now He knows the way from there.

Make a decision. Put your faith fully in Him. He is able.