“Then he {God} chose David, his servant, handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens. One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs, the next God had him shepherding Jacob, his people, Israel, his prize possession” (Psalm 78:70-71). Financial reversals, betrayal, depression, family difficulties, and the consequences of poor personal decisions can wreck a person’s life.  David left tracks for us to follow. Just read the book of Psalms and you will see that David encountered being knocked out of the saddle many times. But David found God to be faithful. The dismal swamps were also seen and David was weighed down, but he also felt the fresh, exhilarating winds on the mountaintops of accomplishment. God works strangely. He often enriches by impoverishing. King David was a man taken from the pasture tending sheep to the palace leading a nation. How did God get David in the place of shepherding a nation? He used trapdoors and pit stops. He used transition. God used anointing by the hand of Samuel in secret, of course, but God used anguish by the hand of Saul in public to train and teach David the leadership God had for him. You don’t ascend to the status of an All-Star overnight without difficulties and obstacles. Many of us have forgotten that many people go through trials and difficulties, fall through trap doors, and face many pit stops in their lives. We forget that God is working for them and in them. Look around and see if you are caring and carrying these “misfortunates” in your prayers and actions. See if the Lord is first place in your hearts for them? Ask yourself do you really care? Sometimes we spend so much more time in other pursuits that we forget how good God has been to us. There is a trail. There is a path God has designed for them and for us. And it would be great if we recognized them as the hand of a merciful and good God.

“Stand fast, therefore, in the Liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

The cross has eliminated sin in the world. We don’t see it or feel as yet but we do know it is coming. God is holy and He can not countenance sin and know this: Sin has been subdued.

Sinlessness will happen for the child of God when he leaves the earth set for heaven. It may be through death or rapture but the albatross of sin is gone as soon as we head for glory to be with the redeemed of all ages.

Sinlessness will happen for the earth and for the heavens when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. The Book of Revelation assures us that there will be no more sea, death, tears, sorrow, crying, nor pain. When every vestige of sin is removed God will remove the very effects of sin.

Times of refreshing are coming. The Kingdom of God rests in the bosom of the child of God. One glorious day we will be totally free from sin. Therefore my fellow believer, stand! Stand in the liberty which Christ has made us free. Do not be confused or entrapped with any sin for God has and will free us from the terrible sorrow of sin! In the mean time live by faith through love to the Father.

“And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times” (Judges 20:28).

In the closing pages of Judges you find reports of wife abuse, blatant homosexuality, gang rape leading to murder, injustice, brother killing brother, and kidnapping.  When David Jeremiah said, “I never thought I’d see the day,” you and I have never encountered a day as the day we live in. It is bad. Violence, vice, immorality, idolatry, and blasphemy are rampant.

This is the daily food people enjoy. TV and film violence is habitual and routinely accepted. It has become the fodder of unredeemed America. What is happening on the screen is being duplicated in the streets. When a nation is entertained by acts of violence, is there much hope for that nation?

Brother went against brother in Israel because evil was not properly dealt with punitive action. The Word of God tells us that “brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death” (Matthew 10:21).

Sin in the city will infect those in it and around and it will lead to war. The center cannot hold with stability. The home, the ministry, and society are disintegrating before our very eyes, and it seems as if people disdain the truth! But whether people want truth or not, the world must be told that Jesus Christ died for lost sinners, and that the power of Christ can transform homes, hearts, churches, and society if people will only trust Him.

“Christ beats His drum, but He does not press men,” said English preacher and poet John Donne in 1631; “Christ is served with voluntaries.”

“He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

What is sin? Sin is universal and it represents the margin of difference between all that God is and what we are on our own.

Sin is anything that falls short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), so that God will evaluate sin as any behavior that falls short of what He does, what He says, and what He is.

Sin is exposed simply by relating our behavior to God’s behavior. God is perfect, and by that perfection we can recognize what sin is, because sin is anything which falls short of His perfection.

God Himself is therefore the only standard by which sin is recognizable.

Sin is also defined as faithless independence: “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). It is an attitude of “lawlessness” according to I John 3:4.

He Who is in us is holy. When we step out of dependence in Him into independence in us, the measure of our repentance will be the measure of our dependence in Him. Every area of our life which we have not learned to be truly dependent on God is an area of our life in which we have not yet truly repented.

Christ died for us, who is risen and alive, who indwells every believer, so that we may no longer be egocentric, self-oriented, living only for our own interests.

Never be sorry for your self. Just be sorry for your sin!

A New Start

“For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Paul went through much of living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christ. So many problems came and went against him, trouble on every side of him, problems that pressed hard against him, and yet he learned the secret of contentment.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Tell me what you see? I see in the mirror a man who is aging and breaking down externally. But, again,  take a look in the mirror of the Word. What do you see? Do you see the eternal springing up within you, the everlasting joy that comes from looking away from the obvious to the real?

Paul did not faint because he kept his eyes on the eternal and the internal. His daily focus was disciplined upon Christ and His Word. He learned that the outward things were temporal and could be discouraging. The things not seen were eternal and were an eternal weight of glory. What is discouragement? It is a temporary loss of perspective.

Focus on that which is unseen, the truths you know in your heart, for it is that truth that is a reality. We need to focus on the inner man. Life is passing us by. We have the opportunity to focus on the eternal and internal daily for the next 364 days of the year.

“But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”  (Matthew 6:33).    How many truly believe that if we seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness that He will give us all that we need? This is His promise to a people who know how to maneuver and who naturally lean upon their own strength, who do not call upon their God. Our God has promised to meet our financial needs, health issues, that which is needed to wear for the body, and our future concerns. But do we believe Him? Why should we when we can ask others (banks, parents, churches, organizations individuals), and we can travel to a place where groceries are available, medical coverage that is given, and other helps from so many places and people? Why do we need God? In many ways we have not depended upon the Lord and His kingdom. We keep living the  same way as we always have, deciding not to pour our lives out to Him, but to live for what is in sight and available. Yes! There’s pain, and problems, and great needs that abound. But we either think we can help ourselves or someone else can provide the need for us. Let’s choose the Father. As the Lord Jesus depended upon His Father in Heaven, we are to depend upon our Lord Jesus for all. Someone has well said, “God has something up His sleeves besides His everlasting arms.” When we realize we do not belong on earth and we are headed to glory, then we can and will turn to our Father who provides every good and perfect gift. It is better to have a Father who owns a bakery than to have a warehouse full of bread! “The cords that bound my heart to earth were loosed by Jesus’ hand; Before His cross I found myself a stranger in the land.”