As Long As God Is

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2 NIV

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,  he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23 NIV

I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds. 2 Corinthians 7:4 NIV

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. Psalm 37:3-13 NIV

This day and every day, we need reminding that as long as God is still on the throne, we can trust Him to keep His promises and we have no need to fear man. And while we have no need to fear man, we do need to be watchmen and warn others of the impending dangers. That is the role of the watchman and everyone who proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord--is a watchman.

The Lord has encouraged my heart and reminded me that as long as I hear Him and obey, He will continue to bless me. Therefore, this morning after I woke up and before I got out of bed, I heard Him say, As Long As He Is...we can make it.

As long as God is the authority in our lives, we have no need to fear what man or woman should say or do.

As long as God is the Alpha and Omega in our lives, we have no need for mere man to guide us in anything.

As long as God is the light we see in the midst of darkness, our hope shall overcome anything the wicked attempt to do.

As long as God is the answer to every question, we shall continue to encourage one another in His love.

As long as God is hope of glory in the heart of every Believer, we have no need for anyone to control us or have any authority in our lives.

As long as God is the only self-existing, self-sufficient One in our lives, we have no need to depend on others who are dependent upon Him.

As long as God is the voice of reason to which we hear and obey, we shall not fear what the enemy does for our reward for living according to God's Word is secure with Him.

As long as God Is, we have no need to depend upon the voices of others that waver and promote fear instead of love.

Though there may be clouds in our lives and darkness attempts to shut out the light, when we know our relationship with Jesus Christ is what it should be, we will survive and thrive, watching how God shows Himself so all will see.  He is the light in the midst of darkness; He is our hope and as long as we know, we are strengthened by His joy in us, we can make it!

As long as God Is not a man we know will never lie to us or mislead us, we can rest--assured of His love and His faithfulness.

As long as God is the Great Shepherd in our lives, we can trust Him and have no need for those who won't do as He does.

Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of His love for us, His faithfulness to us, and His mercy and grace that are poured out upon us, daily! If we are more dependent upon His Word and a right relationship with Him, He will keep us from being misled by the words and works of the enemy.

We know He is love and will only promote love.

We know He is light and will not attempt to hide who He is in darkness or dark ways.

We know He is truth and cannot lie.

And we know that there is no other name by which we can be saved-- other than Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

No Matter What, He's Still Lord!

O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 NKJV

"O Lord, how excellent, how excellent, how excellent, is thy name!" A line from the lyrics of a worship song, aligned with The Word, is ringing in my heart today. When all of the depressing news--we need to remind ourselves of the excellence of our Lord, especially when the events that unfold around us, don't make sense.

I have prayed, seeking understanding, and none has come forth. The Lord has reminded me that we don't have to understand all that happens, but we must trust Him. Though my heart tends to sag, just a little, I can and I will allow Him to minister to me through His Word and the melodic tunes of worship that cause my lips to utter praises unto Him.

This then is how we handle the atrocious acts of hatred and bigotry and just dire tragedy. We don't always understand why a loving God would allow some things to happen, but we must remember that He is the same God--from centuries ago--the God who allowed His chosen to be enslaved, but freed them according to His time-table. The God who allowed children to be massacred, in order for His plans to unfold.

I must reiterate this one point--God allows some things to happen, He does not cause them. Acts of hatred and bigotry are caused by the people who commit the acts; especially when they have no fear of God. They have the same "free will" as the rest of us and God doesn't force anyone do anything.  Tragedies occur for a myriad of reasons, most of which I do not understand, but have learned that God knows best.

No, we don't always understand why God allows things to happen, but we must remember--He has a plan and His plan will be fulfilled.

So perhaps, part of His plan for us right now is to remember--just how excellent He is and to know, we can find comfort in His Word when we allow Him to minister to our hearts.

Now, we can sing songs of worship acknowledging Him for who He is and songs of praise acknowledging all His mighty acts and goodness shown to us. Though it may be difficult to understand His goodness and mercy at the point of grief and despair, we will overcome and be stronger for it. Our God is truly amazing and He will never abandon us--whose hope is in Him, no matter how things look.

I'm gonna praise Him! I'm just gonna praise Him! He is still Lord of my life!

Giving God His Rightful Place In Our Lives!

LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago." (Isaiah 25:1 NIV)

When we honor God, by recognizing who He is in our lives and praise Him for it, He honors His Word to us. When the prophet was speaking to God, he acknowledged God's authority over his life and deliberately exalted Him and praised for others to hear, proclaiming His faithfulness in all things.

When we call Him, "Lord" we are acknowledging the authority we have given Him over our lives--as defined by the use of the word at the time King James authorized that translation. Lords of the land, governed and provided for those who lived on the land. Since God is our provider, and we have given Him authority over our lives, He is rightly declared--Lord.

We exalt Him--lift Him up and declare all of His wonderful works--His provisions and the miracles He works in our lives. No one else deserves the praise for what He does--He inspires, He corrects, He motivates, He pours into His wisdom, He gives us favor with men, He never leaves us alone and His Word is true for He is not a man that He should lie or change His mind.

His faithfulness towards is enduring--everlasting and without measure. All He said He would do, He does--in His timing, not ours. All of His plans, decided before we were born, will be brought to pass when we hear Him and obey. For He has said, through the prophet Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and give you a future."

His plans--will be fulfilled--when we seek Him first--before doing anything, hear and obey. Whenever we're not sure of what we should be doing, we need to ask Him. And we need not be afraid to approach Him boldly because He has given us permission to do so and when we do as He desires, He knows He can trust us to do what He wants us to do.

We serve an awesome God, who only wants the best for us and He's waiting for us to turn to Him and trust Him, implicitly. Can we give Him His rightful place as Lord of our lives and trust Him to provide--not only everything we need, but also to give us the desires of our hearts when we please Him?

He's waiting with open arms to receive us as His own. Why are waiting to give Him what is rightfully His--Lordship over our lives and praise for all He has done and will do?

If we have yet to make that decision--to give Him His rightful place--Lord of our lives, today is a good day to make that decision. Reading beyond the first verse of this chapter, we understand that even the destruction of lands who ignore Him or won't obey Him is part of His plans for disobedience. Today is the day--don't wait another moment--accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and know where you'll spend eternity.

Tower Against The Storm!

"But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O LORD,
a tower of refuge to the needy in distress.
You are a refuge from the storm
and a shelter from the heat.
For the oppressive acts of ruthless people
are like a storm beating against a wall," (Isaiah 25:4 NLT)

Well-built towers--whether to house a light-house or skyline a castle can weather the storms of nature or withstand the onslaught of rebellious people.

The Lord is a strong tower--One in which we can be assured of safety against all the elements and those who oppose and rebel against His Word.

We can expect--the needy to find help from those who know The Lord.

We can expect--those in need of shelter from the storms waged by the enemy to find safe haven.

We can expect--provision from being decimated by extreme seasons and political unrest.

We can expect--with certainty--for all those who create problems to suffer the consequences of their actions--whether they are on the right side of The Lord or the wrong side for His justice does not discriminate and He holds no bias based upon political affiliation or any other trait or entity (openly or behind closed doors) that defies Him.

He sees and knows all things and His Word--shall uphold all who obey it and for those who do not--that same Word will convict and bring about the consequences for going against Him.

It is not a mystery for it is written--for the benefit of all--whether it is believed or not--nothing changes it for the Lord is King of Kings and whatever the King has written--He will not change.

Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to understand with clarity who You are, how You want us to live and all that You have prepared for us when we obey and when we don't. Create in us a heart of flesh that desires to please You and not self and a will to obey You, and not the dictates of men. Thank You for being The Strong Tower for all who will run to You!

Standing In Right Relationship!

"The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble" (Psalm 37:38 NIV).

Many who come to know,
God in His infinite wisdom,
And learn how to show,
Others, they stand for what He says,
Rather than flicker back and forth,
Never knowing how to be a stable light,
Diminishing the dark, always ready to fight
The good fight of faith, head held high
When walking and voice strong when talking
About the goodness and mercy of The Lord.
Winning the battle without use of sword,
Made by hands, but by love and the Word
Of God which remains for all time,
No matter what man does or doesn't do,
God's Word will stand, His name remains
On the lips of all who know and love
Him and others, right or wrong. We are
Made strong in Him when we are weak in our
Own strength and we can defeat the enemy
With love and obedience to Him who created
All things and without Him nothing was
Or will be established in the earth, For it is
Through Him, we obtain our worth, winning
Souls, keeping them from the fiery hell that
Satan has planned for mankind since he dwells
In the hearts of all who choose to disobey,
And rebel against the All-knowing Savior,
Who came to save those who were lost, but
Now has given each of us a job to do,
And we must be about Our Father's business,
Making sure sinners know without Him they
Have no hope, but with Him all things are possible
When we stand in right relationship with God!
Standing Up For All God Says--Doing Things His Way,
Loving all--Him first, each and every day, My Commitment
To Him and all of His children so we can enjoy eternity together!

Proclaiming His Name!

"For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!" (Deuteronomy 32:3 NASB)

What's in a name? The power to pre-destine one's fate or not!

Many people give their children all sorts of names without thought as to how that name may play a part on the child's future. Throughout the bible, we see specific names given to people because the names actually meant something specific. That is certainly true for the name of our God.

Without getting into a list of all names by which He is known for all He does, I'll just briefly discuss--the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord--one who takes responsibility for others--who actually determines what they do and how they do it.

Jesus--The name above all names and by which every knee shall bow before the end of this journey called life.The name by which people can be healed and delivered. The name by which we are assured all of our prayers are heard and answered.

Christ--the Savior of mankind, the One who was obedient unto death so we could have life and that more abundantly.

So, what's in a name? Lordship--giving Him control over all we do and say, Advocate and Mediator between us and the Father who is the One who determines all things, and the Savior of our souls.
Jesus--The Word--God who came down to earth in the likeness of man to prove to us that we can live in obedience and reap the rewards of obedience. God wrapped Himself in flesh and demonstrated the importance of blood-flow and blood-covenant and willingly gave Himself for us--a disobedient, rebellious people who have yet to understand His greatness, and He loves us anyway.

Jesus is Lord of all and He only is worthy of our praise and glory as He is One with the Father. Hallelujah! For the King of Kings and Lord of Lords--our Risen Savior--who gives us victory in every area of our lives when we are obedient.

Because of Him--we are saved, healed, delivered, victorious, on our way to our mansion, living an abundant life with all of our needs met and successful with everything we do. Glory to God in the Highest! There is none like Him, no other name by which man can be saved from himself! What an awesome God!

And though there are many other gods people worship, there is only One who created all that was ever created and without Him, nothing was created.

The only Wise God who knows all things from the beginning to the end; He knows our thoughts before we do and loves us so much, He sent His Spirit back to earth to guide, comfort, and counsel us at all times. No one can love us like Him! And no other god can do what He does! Our God is awesome! He can move mountains on our behalf and reestablish valleys without anyone's permission and do all things well. Praise The name of Our Lord!

He Will Teach Us!

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8 NASB).

Through His Word, God reminds us that He will provide us with instruction--instruction that is sound and rational--to live right and receive all He has for us.

He reminds us that He will teach us the direction we should take--in all areas of our lives at all times. The instruction He provides us will equip us to succeed upon the path He has established.

He watches over us in our journey of life and stands ready to offer us wise counsel when He sees us getting off track. He wants us to succeed. He has established plans for us to succeed because that is His desire. It is up to us to hear Him when we go astray so we can get back on track quickly. How do we hear God speaking to us? When we have a relationship with Him and communicate on a regular basis, we will know when He speaks to our hearts about anything. Once we receive the message He speaks to our hearts, we then--using the mind of Christ, begin to make sense of what we have heard and put it into action.  Our hearts must first receive, so our minds will believe all that He says.

When we let God be God, our lives will be so much better. God never changes, man's instructions, teachings and counsel are often contradictory to God's Word and change constantly indicating there is no stability in the mind of man who does not trust in the Lord!

Maintaining The Joy of The Lord!

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11 NKJV).

What things was Jesus referencing? In verse 10, He tells us that, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." The key word here is "if" we keep His commandments. What commandments are the key to all obedience? Loving God and loving others are the commandments that encompass all the rest.

We often confuse keeping the ten commandments and the "laws and ordinances" concerning our behavior and treatment of others (found throughout the books of Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers as well as parts of Exodus). Love really is the key--to our obedience to God.  If we love Him, we will obey Him and if we love others as ourselves, we won't commit crimes or sins against them--unless we abuse and misuse ourselves.

He's telling us how to keep His love and "the joy of the Lord" is our strength and helps us to keep going and going--like the Ever-ready bunny. With His joy motivating us and spurring us forward, we can be ready for anything at any time.

If we have lost our joy in Him--we have lost our strength and motivation to keep moving forward. If we cannot keep His commandments, we miss out on His love, and His joy and the love of others.  
 For if we do not have love, we cannot give love--to anyone.

For those who abuse their children--they have no love.
For those who abuse their spouses--they have no love.
For those who misuse and abuse their positions of authority--they have no love.
For those who commit crimes against others--they have no love.
For those who cannot care about the needs of the poor and defenseless--they have no love.

Love corrects as well as caresses. Love directs and guides into all things godly. Love forgives and desists in doing ungodly things. Love always wants the best for its objects of love. Love covers a multitude of sins within the context of forgiveness--not hiding it because sin cannot be hidden from God.

If we have not love or joy--we need to think about keeping His commandments and know the joy of His love, always abiding within and always available for pouring out in abundance towards others. To maintain His Joy within, do periodic check-ups (on self) to see where you are and what you might have to change.

O Give Thanks!

"O give thanks" (the exact phrase) appears in 10 verses of scriptures with explanation as to why we should give thanks.

"For the Lord is good and His mercy lasts forever" is why we should give thanks.

Where would we be without His mercy? His mercy that provides us with an avenue to not get what we deserve, but gives us another chance to get living right before Him.

His mercy--covers the guilt-stained messes some of us have made of our lives.
His mercy--gives us chance after chance to get it right.
His mercy--extended to us not because of who we are, but because of Who He is.
His mercy--new every morning, giving us fresh beginnings when we repent.
His mercy--gives us opportunity to rethink our direction the paths we take.
His mercy--allows us to hear Holy Spirit when He speaks--teaching, reminding, and guiding us.

O give thanks to The Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever, and ever! Hallelujah! I will praise You for Your greatness, Your mercy, Your love, Your grace all the days of my life. No matter what happens in this world, You are awesome and there is none like You, anywhere in the earth. If I had the tongues of angels, I could not praise You enough. If I could live forever, I could not praise You enough. Thank You, Lord for being who You are and for being in my life!

Give Him praise and thanks for family, friends, loved ones and even for those you don't know. Pray for those in the midst of chaos and wars, for those who are incapable of thinking right thoughts, for those who refute and refuse God's goodness, for those in your home, in your neighborhood, in your country, all over this world.

God grant you the hindsight and foresight to receive all that He has in store in for you this day. Have a wonderful day celebrating thanksgiving or whatever it is you do! Give Him Glory, because it all belongs to Him!

Become The Magnifier!

"O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3).

Most of us (those over 60 years old) have had an opportunity to use a magnifying glass at one time or another.  In fact, if we were bifocals or use reading glasses, their job is to magnify (help us see clearly) what we see when we read print that is too small for our "unaided" eyes to see.  Magnifying works!  We can see small print and continue to enjoy reading!

If magnifying the print works well for us to read, how much more would magnifying God help others to "see" Him for who He is?  Didn't Paul say, "we are epistles read of men?" So, what are they reading when they see us? Are we magnifying the One we say we love or are we magnifying the one who hates God? Time to think!

When you finish thinking, "magnify The Lord with me" and let us together help others see, just how good God is, just how great a provider He is, just how awesome He is, just how merciful He is, just how wonderful a healer He is, just how forgiving He is, just how loving He is!  Magnify Him wherever you go, whenever you get a chance--let your lifestyle magnify The Lord on a consistent basis.