Words of Encouragement

Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. – Psalm 73:27-28

God’s Sovereignty. Don’t be weary of good works. The psalmist starts this psalm talking about how he almost slipped up because of the way he was thinking. He was looking at the wickedness of others and watching the things they were doing. They were prosperous in their ways, they were well in their bodies, they had no struggles, they were not plagued by concerns and struggles and they laid claim to heaven with their mouths. Yet the psalmist said, here I am struggling, bothered, oppressed and plagued every morning, am I doing something wrong?

If we were honest with ourselves we would admit we feel like that sometimes. The wicked seem to have everything going their way, they are pressing you down and burdening you with the things they are doing and it can make you turn your sight for a brief moment and look at them and their deeds.

Yet the psalmist says when he went into the house of the Lord he was reminded of why he trusted in God. His confusion and the oppression of this situation were removed from him. He remembered where the wicked would end up. He was also reminded that God was holding his hand through the situations he faced. It was God that was walking with him and God that would see him safely through.

He was reminded as we enter these verses that the wicked would perish. They season of sin they are enjoying will not last always. There comes a time of reckoning. Those that trust in God can have assurance that the sovereign (all powerful) God will carry them through and he will not let them go. He is that place of refuge (safety). He is the place that keeps us from the destruction of those that would try to hurt us or tear us down.

The psalmist reminds us we do not have to look at those that are disobedient and become burdened by the prosperity we see them receiving. For this is their only reward. It is in fact the trick that the enemy uses to keep them in a place of disobedience. They believe that God is some how turning a blind eye to them and he is “okay” with what they are doing.

We must remember those things about God that are vital for our walk. The sovereign God requires relationship with us. He wants more that our talk he wants us. The sovereign God is the one who can save us from the traps set to destroy us. Let us not become so focused on the wrong things that we miss the opportunities he gives for us to walk into what he has promised us. And finally let us remember that God’s promises are true. We do not have to wonder will he keep them, for he is Truth and he cannot lie.

As we go to worship this weekend, let us go seeking a closer relationship with the sovereign God. He is are total source for all that we need to be victorious in this walk.

Words of Encouragement

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.
Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. - Psalm 68:19-21

God’s Sovereignty. The Sovereign God saves. This psalm of David is one of rejoicing in the wondrous works of God. This psalm is one of contrast. The song sings of how the righteous will be blessed and protected, while the wicked will be cursed and destroyed. It is a song of reminder of how God will take care of the widows, the fatherless (and the motherless); how he will release the prisoners from the bondage they are in. This song reminds us of what our God can do.

In these verses, we are told to praise God, who is our savior (our redeemer). It reminds us that not only are we saved from our sins, but also he bears our burdens daily. That means whatever you are facing today God is carrying the weight. We sometimes get in the way and try to get back under the weight of that thing, but God has removed the weight from us and he carries it himself because of our seal of righteousness given by his son.

Today let us remind ourselves who God is. The devil wants to discourage someone today, but I come to remind you we serve the God that saves. He comes and brings us an escape from death. Escape from the death of our hopes, the death of our trust, and any death that the enemy wants to press upon our lives. We do not have to worry about what the enemy will try to do to us, because God is bigger than our problems and surely he will crush the head of the enemy.

I pray for us today that we find strength for today in knowing we serve a God that saves. He saves us from our sins. He saves us from our situation and our circumstances. He has better for us than what the enemy says he does. Help us God not to listen to the lies but to hold on to the truth, you have a way set for us and you will fulfill it in us.

Words of Encouragement

"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. - Exodus 34:22-24

God’s Sovereignty. God requires for relationship. This scripture from Exodus is when Moses goes back before God to have he re-write the tables after they have been destroyed. Before God speaks to Moses about what is required of the people, he gives a short list of his abilities and attributes.

Starting in verse 6, this is what God says about himself, “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’”

God reminds Moses of his goodness and then he tells Moses that even still he will not allow wickedness and sin to go unpunished. God then tells Moses of what he requires from the people. He warns Moses to keep the people separate from the nations that will surround them. Do not intermingle in marriage, customs or worship. Do not seek to partake in seeking after their gods. He also as we get to these verses, requires the people to come before him at certain times each year. This is a requirement, not optional.

What does it speak to us today? As Christians there are some requirements for relationship with God. We cannot say we are in a relationship with him, yet do not follow his ways. He requires us not to intermingle in this world we live in. In this case he is speaking about taking up the customs and the religious practices. We cannot seek to worship the god’s of our time because they will cause us to turn from the true God. God reminds us that he is slow to anger and loving, but he still will not leave the guilty unpunished. If we refuse to turn, we stand to receive the punishment of our sins.

He also requires us to come before him. Whether is 3 times or 300 times is not the point, what the significance is, God is requiring consistence participation from us in a relationship with him. It is not something he is asking or begging us for, it is a non-negotiable requirement.

Today, let us go to God to find out what his requirement is for us to have a right relationship with him. I pray that we do not miss understand the attributes of God as saying he’ll be patient with our foolishness forever. Not so. In fact it is only his mercy he is extending to us, but in his time he will require you to stand before him and face the results of your sin. So I pray that we heed him while he is extending mercy and grace to us.

Words of Encouragement

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD ? – 2 Samuel 17:17-19

God’s Sovereignty. The promises of God are true. David is settled in his palace and seeks the prophet Nathan about building a house unto the Lord. Nathan tells David to go ahead and do as he thinks. Yet, that night the Lord speaks to Nathan and tells him words to give to David. The words David is given are the promises of what God will do for him and for the people. He promises to establish his kingdom forever. He promises that his son will reign on the thrown.

After hearing this revelation from the prophet Nathan, David rejoices and begins this pray to the Sovereign God. David is amazed at the wonderful promises of the supreme God of the earth. He is so overwhelmed at the wonder of God he calls him Sovereign at least seven times in this chapter. As I thought about this, I thought about seven being the number of completion. David gave God complete praise. He did not stop short of honoring God completely with his mouth.

In the entirety of this prayer/praise of David’s he list some of the attributes of God and then he also ask for God’s help to fulfill what God has spoken. This is a guide for us today to understand that we do not want to stop short of giving God complete praise for what he reveals to us in our lives. God’s Spirit continually speaks to our hearts to let us know what the direction of the Lord is. As he does, he will help us to know the promises of God.

We can then be like David and marvel at the fact that God is mindful of us. The God of the universe is concerned about me. This is an awesome experience to understand God is concerned about your future, your walk, and your life. So today I pray for us that we rejoice in complete praise as we grasp hold to the promises of God. We can trust them because he is Truth. We can depend on them because he is dependable. We do not have to doubt his ways because his ways are sure. Like David we can list the attributes of God and rejoice in knowing God is sovereign.

Words of Encouragement

This picture was taken on 1/23/2005 at 4:21 p.m. How awesome God's handiwork is!

At that time I pleaded with the LORD: "O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon." - Deuteronomy 3:23-25

God’s Sovereignty. Lost opportunities. I was reading an article and found something interesting that I would like to share with you this week. The writer of this article was talking about faith in God and in his sovereignty. He talked about how God wants us to have a relationship with him and how this calls for an understanding of faith to be relational. What would your wife or husband feel if you went up to them one day and said, “I believe you exist?” Would this impress them? The writer of the article said his wife would not be too impressed with that revelation from him.

As I read the article I laughed but the truth of what he said hit home. God is not impressed when we say we believe he exist, he already knows that. What he wants to know is will you trust him? Will you trust his words to be true or will you doubt them? This goes back to faith being relational. The writer said his wife would be more concerned about him trusting her to keep her word and his ability to have trust in her abilities as a wife. It is no different with God. He wants us to trust him to keep his word and to trust his ability to be God.

In the scripture today, Moses talks about his pleading with God to allow him to be able to go over and see the promise land after God had forbidden him from entering in. Moses says in the verses that follow this one, that God told him no and that he would not speak on this matter any more. Some having read the story about Moses would think surely this is too harsh a treatment? But the message we must understand is the sovereign God has the right to direct us as he chooses. And when you or I refuse to do it actually as we have been instructed, we risk missing the opportunity to receive blessings God has set aside for us. Yes, Moses had done so many things right, but it only took one wrong thing to change his outcome. We must not be foolish enough to think we can weigh what we do against the wrong and think we will come up on the winning side. If Moses losses his opportunity to receive the blessing, what makes you think we are any better? Don’t miss judge and think because I am under grace my foolishness will go unchecked. Not so!

Today I pray for us that we do not allow our disobedience of the ways of the sovereign God to set us up to lose out on godly opportunities and blessings. Lord help us to see the way of our sins so that we can walk in you way and in your will.