"In Him I Will Secure Myself"

"He who dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."  (Psalm 91:1, KJV)

Verse 2 then says, "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust."  Do this, and there is nothing better to enable us to say, "Life is good."

The NIV says, "....will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  The Interlinear says that the word which most translate as, "abide," means to, "lodge."  Think of that for a moment.  What does one do at a "lodge?"  He rests, "hangs out," sleeps, refreshes himself.  The word for, "dwells," contains a similar concept, "to sit, dwell, remain, inhabit."  This, my friend, is not a "vacation home."  Okay, so I wonder if we could translate our text this way:  "He who lodges and rests in the secret place of the Most High shall lodge and rest under the shadow of the Almighty."
 

In verse 2, the Jubilee Bible 2000 says, "in Him will I secure myself."  If you and I want to do something "for myself" there is no better endeavor.  You know that the number one desire of humanity is "security."  People want "job security," marriage security, property and savings security.  No one can guarantee such.  I cannot "secure" any of this because too many other people are involved.  I can, however, "secure myself," in Jesus, because He is the Guarantor of (excuse me here) Eternal Security.  

"....Under the Shadow of the Almighty...we are more than conquerors through/because of Him Who loved us."  Relocate myself and I am in grave danger.  "....Secure myself under the Shadow of the Almighty," Living Triune God in Jesus Christ and I can, "secure myself," in the reality of what the Word of God says later in the Psalm, "He will cover you....You will not fear....He will command His angels...to guard you in all your ways....I (our Lord Jesus) will be with [you] in trouble,..will deliver [you]...."  And never forget that this great promise of Him, "Who cannot lie," was sealed in His Blood, His Death, His Resurrection, and ascension.  Reservations for lodging are still open.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I choose no other "lodging."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

What Does The Modern Church Have For All Its Toil?

"....We have toiled all night and caught nothing...."  (Luke 5:5)

The NASB says, "....We worked hard all night and caught nothing...."  This is your life and my life before we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ.  Let me say that surrendering our lives to Jesus is continuation process of the New Birth.  "Unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God....Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."  Jesus never intended us to, "see," and not, "enter."  It is all a part of the New Birth process.  This is not a "two stage rocket."

Why has "evangelical" Christendom left off the second statement concerning the, "Kingdom of God."  I believe the answer is quite simple.  People want to be "saved from," not "saved for or to."  Humanity wants to receive, but humanity does not want to give, viz., surrender.  I wonder how many of us realized when we "went to the altar," said "the sinner's prayer," received Jesus that He gave His all for us, and requires all from us.  Most Twentieth and Twenty-First century gospel is, "Just say this."  It does not say, "You can have all of Jesus when Jesus has all of you."  Most of it today is "flower-child" gospel.  "It doesn't matter what you have done, what you do or will do, Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."  They have made the "fine print" unreadable, if it is there at all.  "Whoever desires to come after Me...."---- then what?  "....let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it."

Back to our text.  "....We worked hard...and caught nothing...."  This is modern Christendom, losing members, losing money, losing the "culture war," supporting Trump.  I have shared before that when some of the contemporary, "top" young evangelists were asked to give the Biblical basis for the Gospel message, they could not.  Again, it is a "flower child gospel."  Jesus' command, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch", is what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying to modern Christendom, "Go where I tell you; go where I am."  I repeat: I use the term "Christendom" because most of it is not the Church.  It has evolved over the centuries into a religion of convenience, a religion which will sell, receive popular support, but not, "the faith of Jesus."  I so desire to get back to, "follow Me," to the degree I may myself have departed.  I pray for the contemporary Church to so desire. 

Has Christendom gone too far?  Is it too late to recover what has been lost?  Can we still, "deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me?"  Have we passed out tracks so long with a "half gospel" that to proclaim, "the faith of Jesus," would be too great a shock to our system?  Jesus says, "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also...."  If I am to be "where Jesus is," I, "must follow Me (Jesus)."  I have said before, I have been to many leadership conferences.  I have yet to attend a followers' conference.

Father, in Jesus' Name, forgive me to the degree I have been guilty of what I have written.  I do so want to be, "where [You are]."  Holy Spirit, help me to, "Launch out into the deep."  Amen. 

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* Read of France's long-standing opposition to the Jewish State (code for, "We hate Jews")
* October Mission to Berlin, 5-27

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

"Blessed Is The Man Whose Strength Is In Thee"

"They have said, 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more'....Deal with them as with Midian....O my God, make them like the whirling dust....Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee." (From today's Psalm reading, 83 & 84)

The Open Doors Prayer Force country today is North Korea.  There are reports that Followers of Jesus in the prison camps have resorted to eating raw snakes, rats, frogs.  I once said to a friend of mine who had been in prison in East Europe for the Name of Jesus, "I don't know what I would do."  He said, "No one does."  Never forget the truth of that.  This is a moment by moment walk in Jesus, not some periodic bluster.  Lord Jesus, comfort and strengthen our suffering Brethren in North Korea.

Along with family and friends, etc., I pray for nations.  I pray our text for nations and leaders.  The majority of humanity wants what the enemies of Israel wanted/want, "Let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel (and the Church and Jesus) be remembered no more."  Good luck with that, enemies of the Cross!  Jesus tells us, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will by no means pass away," which includes the Church and His People.  Do you have that?  Are you trusting your life in Those Words, in the, "Word of God," Himself today?  "Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

You and I have very little idea just how much intervention and how many times the Lord Jesus has done what the psalmist prayed, "Deal with them...."  The interventions in our families, our businesses, our governments.  How many times there must be that our Lord Jesus, "deal[t] with them."  So many times all we see is the "unanswered prayers," events which did not go the way we wanted, the suffering instead of relief, people getting "worse" instead of "better."  Yet our Lord Jesus was and is "dealing," making our enemies, "like the whirling dust."

Jesus, "is my Shepherd," your Shepherd.  If we ever forget just that, we will go the way of a hopeless humanity, in despair, bitterness, defeat.  If, on the other hand, we continue to believe, trust in, rely on, and obey our Lord Jesus, we will then know the power of the last sentence of our text, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I am, "Blessed," because You are my Strength.  Amen.
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It may seem like a long way off, but please remember to pray for our October Berlin Mission. 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

A Savior Born For You

"....for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11, NASB, from yesterday's Gospel reading)

I have readers around the world.  It really, however, does not matter where one lives on Planet Earth.  The Good News of the Gospel is that, "....there has been born for you a Savior...."

As they say, "I had just enough Greek to be dangerous."  But there are wonderful helps available to us in these days.  The Greek word translated, "to," in the phrase, "to you," is a "possessive pronoun."  I know that "possessive" means, "mine;" hence, the Savior born is the Savior who Is mine, viz., "for you."  Jesus was born (revealed) for you and me, indeed, all humanity.  We have, then, the NASB, which most scholars claim to be the most "accurate" of the translations, translating today's text as, "For today...there has been born for you a Savior....

"....there has been born for you...."  Jesus was born (revealed) for you and me.  I know, "Okay, already; I get it."  Well, sometimes I am just as the song writer, "I scarce can take it in."  To us "lonely creatures, doubting the mastery even of our own existence," has come to us, "....a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord," or, "....a Savior, who is [the] Messiah, the Lord."  Jesus is Father's promised, "Coming One," the Anointed One.  What a glorious revelation!  "....there has been born FOR YOU...." 

For all the lonely, poor, suffering, desperate, sorrowing in the world, bound by his Satanic majesty, "the Prince of darkness grim," we have the "Good News" of the Gospel, "....there has been born for you a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord."  I know some do not appreciate "the creeds," but I do.  Let me share from an ancient one, which declares of Jesus, "King of kings, and Lord of lords":
"We believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,... God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven and,...was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.  He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scripture, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father."  And He did this all, "for you," my friend.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I say that I am overwhelmed that You included me in, "....there has been born for you a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord."  Amen.
         

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

"As For Me...."

"As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more."  (Psalm 71:14 NIV)

If my eyes are always on Jesus, my heart surrendered to Jesus, my lips speaking the Name of Jesus, and my life lived in obedience to Jesus, there is absolute no reason to not, "....always have hope...."

When we lost Stephen, my mind, heart, lips were helpless.  "I will praise you more and more," was not going on.  Nothing was "going on," just darkness, a spiritual "black hole."  As the old song says, "Then Jesus came."  The truth is, Jesus never "left."  Jesus was with and in me before the tragedy, during the tragedy, and since the tragedy.  The "tragedy," as I call it was the loss, the missing, the longing to see and hold him.  Yet in and through it all, "I will always have hope," not because of my strength or spirituality, but because Jesus is, "the God of all comfort."

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness."  This hope is not only for the "new birth," but life itself.  The Blood and Righteousness of Jesus, yes, is the forgiveness of our sins, "He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities....He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification," and the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus is also for the power to live, to serve, to love.  Apart from the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus I am literally nothing.  This is not some religious mumbo jumbo.  This is the reality of life itself.

What is, in the words of the song, "assailing" you today?  What is challenging you in, "....I will always have hope..."?  Is hopelessness winning, or is the Hope of Jesus winning?  No one can be, "in Christ," and be hopeless.  Only me-centered people lose to hopelessness.  Join me today in a renewed commitment and confession with the psalmist, "As for me, I will always (with 'continuity, perpetually') have hope; I will praise you more and more."

Father, in Jesus' Name, "As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more."  Amen.
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OCTOBER 5-27, BERLIN MISSION.  Thanks to all who have helped so far; we're "getting there." 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2