Steadfast Love and Mercy

Psalm 147 :11 in the ESV uses the words "steadfast love" in place of "mercy." When I read that last night is reminded me of the song we used to sing from Lamentation 3:22-23. Lamentation 3:22-25 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy 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." (ESV) I chose to add the two additional verses because they seem to complete the thought to me. Again, as in Ps. 147:11, our only real hope is in the LORD, in His mercy or steadfast love. I like that word "steadfast." It means firm and never changing. God's love and mercy are connected and both are firm and never changing. That makes me feel secure to know that these characteristics of God will not change. Another verse that this reminds me of is, Psalm 103:4 "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." I remember reading somewhere or in another translation that "crowneth" means to "surround." So God surrounds us, perhaps like a hug or shield with His lovingkindness and tender mercies. This also makes me feel secure. In Ps. 103:4, we also see yet another aspect of God's mercy....it is tender. That makes me feel safe.

Hope In His Mercy

Psalm 147:10-11 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

I find this scripture very comforting. I am very thankful that God takes pleasure in those who hope in His mercy. Really His mercy is my only hope. Because I am a sinner, it is only God's mercy that preserves me from being destroyed.

God loves me as I am. But He also desires that I become all that He created me to be. His love provides me with all I need in order to fulfill His will. The mercy of God is part of that provision. I consistently sin and because of His mercy I am not destroyed and am given another chance.

He takes pleasure when we choose to hope in Him, in His mercy, rather than hope in ourselves or our own strength.

I Am A Warrior

Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, "I am strong." KJV

I want to focus on "let the weak say I am strong." Last night I was reading this in the ESV and it translates this to say "let the weak say I am a warrior." That really ignited something in me. I woke up this morning declaring "I AM A WARRIOR." I am a warrior in the kingdom of God, no matter how weak or puny I feel. "I AM A WARRIOR"

We are in a constant war zone, with entities of the kingdom of darkness all around. But Romans 8:37 says I am more than a conqueror through Christ. The word "conquerors" in that scripture means to "gain a decisive victory." Not just a victory, but a decisive victory.

So not only am I a warrior, but through Christ I have already won a decisive victory.

Always Enough

Continuing on the theme of the Lord's provision for His people...Back when I was in Bible school my school bill had reached a point where I was going to have to leave school if I did not have money by the end of the week. As I sought the Lord He spoke to me from the following Scripture passage.

1 Kings 17:13-16 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. 15And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

God told me that just like when this woman went to the barrel for meal and to the cruse for oil there was always enough for each day, I would always have enough. I may not have an abundance, but I could always be assured of the Lord's provision of enough for my needs. That was 30 years ago and God has always been faithful to that word......Oh and by the way someone paid off my school bill by Friday and I was able to continue at the Bible school.

I Shall Not Want

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

I have been sharing a series of short teachings on Psalm 23 at church mostly geared to the kids on the Sundays that they stay in the adult service. So recently I have been spending time in that Psalm once again. Tonight I was thinking again about verse one, especially the second part.

It is because the Lord is my shepherd that I will not be in want. He is a good shepherd and knows my every need. He is my creator. Who better than my creator to know my needs.

I shall not want does not mean I will get everything I think I want or need. I may get the things I want but that is not guaranteed.

It does mean that Jesus who knows best will give me what he knows I need when I need it---I know I can trust him to be a good shepherd and take good care of me in every situation.

I believe David had come to know God well enough/ was in relationship with God in such a way that he trusted him to take good care of him even in the really hard times.

Phillip Keller, in the book "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23," says the main concept is of not lacking in proper care or management--also the idea of being utterly contented in the Good Shepherd’s care and consequently not craving or desiring anything else. Staying in his care and not continually jumping the fence and leaving the care of the good shepherd.

Prayer Focus-Persecuted Church

We here in the United States have no idea what it is like to live within a country where we have no freedom to openly express our Christian beliefs. We can freely attend church, buy and read Bibles, read and publish Christian writings on the inter net, attend Christian conferences,purchase Christian materials at Bible bookstores, etc. We are incredibly blessed in this way. And most of the time we do not really appreciate it.

About 17 years ago, I had a very brief experience in a country where the people do not have the freedoms that I just mentioned. During the week that we were there a church around the corner from our hotel was closed down and the pastor was put in jail. We were followed to every church we went to the first two nights. After that government officials came to our hotel and forbid us to participate in any more church services. The large open air evangelistic meeting we were supposed to participate in was cancelled, even though proper permits had been gotten. I believe some of the restrictions were put on us because we were a much larger group than they had anticipated and it was too difficult to keep constant surveillance on all of us. There were even men in the lobby of our hotel that kept tabs on us. We had been warned before we entered the country to be careful about what we said even when we thought no one was around.

Before the ultimatum was given concerning not going to any more churches, two groups of us had already left the capital city to go to outlying cities to preach. We were followed, but were not harassed. We had some very good meetings. The people were incredibly hungry for the Word. They crammed into the house church for the meetings, sitting on the floor filling every inch of space, and gathered outside the windows to hear what was being said. Only a handful had Bibles. It was an incredible experience.

The tension we felt constantly while being watched and followed was difficult to deal with and it was just for one week. I can't imagine what it must be like to live like that constantly. Although at that time the church was not severely persecuted, there certainly was not much freedom.

That experience made me much more appreciative of the freedoms I have in this country.

In the coming weeks I will be sharing info about the persecuted church. In the mean time here are a couple of scriptures to ponder in light of the persecution that many of our Christian brothers and sisters are experiencing today.


Hebrews 13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Lamb Of God

John the Baptist evidently had a special revelation from God concerning Jesus being the Lamb of God. The concept of the Messiah being a lamb seems to have been a foreign concept to the religious leaders and teachers of the day. They were looking for their Messiah to be a king coming to conquer the natural, earthly, political rulers of the day and set them free.

Jesus indeed was a conqueror in the form of a lamb, who went to the slaughter, winning a mighty victory over the spiritual kingdom of darkness and set us free from all the works of the evil one. In His second coming the final showdown of that victory will be manifest in the natural, in the establishing of the Kingdom of God in the earth, toppling all other kingdoms. Hallelujah!!!!

The word "lamb" is found 31 times in the KJV of the New Testament. All but two of those are found in the writings of John. Two of the times that John uses the word "lamb" are in John 1:29 & 36. The other 27 times that John uses the word "lamb" are all in the book of Revelation.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

The following is the final passage of the Bible in which the word "lamb" is used. The Lamb is on His throne.

Revelation 22:1-5 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

I Am My Beloved's

The Song of Solomon is a love story that can be applied to the love relationship between Christ and His church or individual believers. In this story the love relationship deepens as the story goes on.

Song of Solomon 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his We see here a focus on self. Jesus in mine and secondarily I am His. This would lead to a focus on the personal needs of the individual.

Song of Solomon 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. Here there has been some growth to where the focus is on the fact that she belongs to Jesus and secondarily He is hers. Out of this there would come more of a focus on what Jesus would want in a situation and not just her personal needs.

Song of Solomon 7:10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. At this point in the love relationship the central focus is on Jesus. Now she can operate in oneness with Him.

In the past I thought that this last step meant she would need to grow to the point of being worthy of His desire being toward her, of having to become mature enough to warrant His attention. Thus this love is something she had to earn. But I have come to believe that this is not the case. I believe that this is the point at which she finally realizes the truth that really she is His and His desire is toward her. His desire has been toward her all along. Now she finally knows it. Finally all the other stuff that has kept her from this truth have been stripped away. Now all the distractions, all other loves, have been stripped away and she can fully submit to His desires knowing that He always has her best interest at heart. Now she really knows Jesus loves her.

Because Of Jesus

Ephesians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

This scripture blows me away every time I read it.

Before I was even conceived, God chose me. Actually before the foundation of the world...that is so incredible!!! He loved me. He wanted me. He had a plan for my life. He has always loved me and always will. His love for me has never been nor ever will be dependent on what I have done or have not done. It is and always will be a fact. Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so.

I am fully accepted by God in Jesus Christ, because of a relationship with Christ by which I become one with Him. Because of what Jesus did I can stand before God, holy and without blame. Because of Jesus I am acceptable to God, not because of anything I have done or ever will do.

God, You sent your Son to this earth and He was rejected and despised by most, and yet went to the cross that each of us would have a means of being forgiven all and to come into a heavenly inheritance in Christ.

God, You chose me by the good pleasure of Your will. You chose me to be born in this time to be part of what You are doing in the earth at this time. The fact that all of this would bring You pleasure is amazing to me. The God of the universe can take pleasure in my life. How awesome!!

Prayer Focus-USA

I am thinking I would like to do a post each Saturday for a prayer focus, highlighting some particular area of need either here in the USA or in a foreign country. Our missions focus sometimes within the church fails to look at or minister to needs right here in our own country. Anyone who knows me is well aware of my interest in foreign missions over the years. But at this time the need here in our own nation is so great that I believe more of a home mission focus is needed within the church. We need to be ministering to the needs across the street as well as those across the globe.

When I was a missions director in a church, in Burlington, MA, a little over 10 years ago, I read an article that said that at that time the USA was only nation in the world where Christianity was losing ground and that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the USA. I don't know what those stats are now. But I can't imagine they are any better.

Here is the title of an article by the Barna Group that I consider alarming: "Unchurched Population Nears 100 Million in the U.S." That means 33% of the population fits in that category. According to this 2007 article this statistic has stayed relatively unchanged since 1994. In the early nineties about 20% were unchurched. So we see that we are not making any progress here at this time. I realize going to church does not make a person a Christian. But I still believe this trend needs to stop. We need to pray for the USA. (To find this article do a search for Barna Grouop and the article title.)

When Jesus commissioned the disciples just before His ascension, he told them to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. You notice that they were to start where they were, in Jerusalem. We need to start where we are.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.