FOREVER FAITHFULNESS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 117

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Faithfulness seems to be a word that is losing value today I’m afraid.

Look at the definition of the word and you find these three meanings:

- Adhering firmly and devotedly, as to a person, cause, or idea; loyal.

- Engaging in sex only with one's spouse or only with one's partner in a sexual relationship.

- Having or full of faith.

Now ask yourself these three things:

1. Who are we firmly devoted and loyal to more, others or our self?

2. How many people today remain faithful to their spouse or partner?

3. How many people live with a steadfast faith in anything?

If you’re honest with your answers to these questions and have your eyes open to what’s happening in the world around us, then I think you’ll see why I have concerns about our level of faithfulness.

So how do we turn this around? How can our world become more faithful? How can we become more faithful?

All the answers are found in the only One who is perfectly faithful, the only One who displays forever faithfulness.

We know the Lord is forever faithful because God’s word tells us so and we know His word is truth. Look at these words from the 117th Psalm:

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

Want to start to make your way toward living in faith? Turn to the Lord whose faithfulness endures forever. No one is this faithful to us, absolutely no one. And this forever faithfulness brings with it even more as the Lord grants us His great love, a great love that is as perfect as His faithfulness.

The scriptures have more to say about the steadfast faithfulness of the Lord. Consider these passages:

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9

He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He. Deuteronomy 32:4

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.” Exodus 34:6

For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. Psalm 33:4

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of You among the peoples. For great is Your love, higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:3-4

He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — He remains faithful forever. Psalm 146:6

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

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

In the Lord we find a faith that is boundless and abounding, perfect and eternal. When we commit ourselves fully to Him as He is committed to us, then and then only will we begin to exhibit the kind of faithfulness we find in Him, the kind of faithfulness He expects and desires.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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HOW CAN WE REPAY THE LORD?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For You, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I trusted in the Lord when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.”

What shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve You just as my mother did; You have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to You and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord — in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 116:8-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After a couple of great hymns on grace, “Grace, Greater Than All Our Sin and, of course, “Amazing Grace”, my next favorite song on grace is a contemporary song by Phillips, Craig and Dean titled, “Your Grace Still Amazes Me”. I’ve loved singing this song on the numerous times I have got to perform it and the lyrics are simply fantastic. Here they are:

My faithful Father, enduring Friend
Your tender mercy’s like a river with no end
It overwhelms me, covers my sin
Each time I come into Your presence
I stand in wonder once again

CHORUS:
Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me

‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

Oh, patient Savior, You make me whole
You are the Author and the Healer of my soul
What can I give You, Lord, what can I say
I know there’s no way to repay You
Only to offer You my praise

CHORUS:
Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me

‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

It’s deeper, it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher
It’s deeper it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher
than anything my eyes can see

CHORUS:
Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me

‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

Although I love all the words of this song, the ones that always seemed to evoke the most emotion within my heart were these ones:

What can I give You, Lord, what can I say I know there’s no way to repay You Only to offer You my praise.

Every time I sing or hear these words, I am asked to consider the immensity of what the Lord has given me and how impoverished I am when it comes to the matter of giving back to the Provider of every good and perfect thing from above (James 1:17). Truly, what can I give the Lord to ever repay Him for what He has done for me?

The answer is that I can never fully repay Him but there are things I can do to express my gratitude. I learned this from reading the final verses of the 116th Psalm. Look at these words from the psalmist:

For You, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I trusted in the Lord when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.”

What shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve You just as my mother did; You have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to You and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord — in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

Note how the psalmist first pays homage to how the Lord has delivered him through stumbling and falling and even away from death during the days of his life so that at he could still be walking before Him in the land of the living. Truly, by God’s grace and protection every day, something I’m afraid we take for granted too often, we are still walking in the land of the living before Him this very moment. And for that we should be grateful.

This leads the psalmist to consider how he might be able to repay the Lord for all His goodness, for how the Lord had richly blessed him so very much to get him to the point where he could write the very words we’re studying from today. In answering his own question, the psalmist professes to do the following in talking steps toward showing the Lord how much he appreciated what had been done for him:

1. He would lift up the cup of salvation.

Think about a drink offering to the Lord for what He has done for you. Today, we do this during Communion as we remember the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. The cup of salvation can be seen in many different lights as we consider the Lord’s goodness unto us.

It can be an aggrieved cup as we consider how our sins were the catalyst that caused God’s only Son to have to be crucified and how God loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His Son to save us. I don’t know about you but I am brought to a place of sorrow and hurt when I lift the cup of salvation to my lips and remember the shed blood of Jesus who atoned for my transgressions, paying the price that I should have paid.

The cup can also be a cup of thanksgiving as we consider the sacrifices that the Lord made for us. We give thanks for the gift of eternal life we have through our belief and trust in Jesus as we lift the cup of salvation and remember the cleansing and saving quality of the blood of Jesus, shed freely for us on Calvary’s cross.

Finally, the cup is a cup of rejoicing as we consider what is yet is ahead through the salvation promise. We rejoice that Jesus gained victory over death and the grave before being taken back into the heavens to sit at His Father’s right hand. And we rejoice that because of this victory, we who believe and trust in Jesus as Savior have also gained the same victory and will one day dwell in the house of the Lord forever, dwelling in one of the mansions prepared for us.

2. He would call upon the name of the Lord.

The psalmist showed his esteem for the Lord by always calling on His name.

The world certainly offers us many options when we find ourselves in time of difficulty and confusion. There are many resources available for us as well as a multitude of self help books and websites where we can seemingly learn how to deal with our issues independent of anything or anyone else.

But what we’ll find if we really consider all available options, is that nothing in the world will ever compare to what we gain when we place our faith, hope, and trust in the Lord and call on Him not just some of the time but ALL of the time.

3. He would fulfill his vows to the Lord in the presence of the people.

Another way the psalmist saw that he could start to repay the Lord was through fulfilling his vows toward the Lord and making sure he did it in a way where he could be a role model for others. The scriptures are rife with the Lord’s expectations as to how we are to live. When we choose to follow Him, we also choose to be obedient to all that He wills for us to be and that means modifying our behavior from sin toward righteousness. We show our appreciation to the Lord for all He has done for us when we conform to His desires over our own and seek to lead and guide others to do likewise.

4. He would be a servant.

The Lord is fully committed to serve us. Jesus even said that He came to serve and not be served even unto death for us all (Matthew 20:28). And so as we seek to give back just a portion of what we have been given, it only makes sense that servitude would be a part of that action. Sometimes we can best show others that the Lord is living and alive within us by serving as He served us, selflessly and sacrificially.

5. He would sacrifice, giving and offering thanks.

Part of our self sacrificial lifestyle is our willingness to give freely to others just as through Jesus, God freely gave to us. There’s a reason why the Bible speaks so much about giving, especially saying that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). The Lord has given us so much to give and we are to give as freely and easily as He gave to us.

6. He would praise the Lord.

Finally, when we consider just how much the Lord has done for us and understand that there is no way we could ever possibly repay Him for His goodness, then we are taken to a place of praise, fully giving Him all our honor and glory. It’s where the psalmist ended up after considering all that the Lord had done for him and it’s where we will end up as well when we truly count all our many blessings.

Our scripture today reminds us that we have a long way to go to even start to repay the Lord for all He has done for us. Thanks to the psalmist, we know at least six ways that we can start.

Amen.

PS: Listen to the Phillips, Craig and Dean song, Your Grace Still Amazes Me here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNClAJO2tnQ

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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OUR TRUSTWORTHY, GO-TO LORD

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”

The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, He saved me.

Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Psalm 116:1-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The person who once said, “God is good all the time” must have read the first seven verses of the 116th Psalm. For in it, we find the psalmist reflecting on how good God has been to him and why he will ever trust and go to Him for his every care. Look at the words in our scripture:

I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”

The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, He saved me.

Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Life has a way of unsettling us, at shaking us at our very core. We find ourselves longing for order to be restored, for a time when we won’t have to worry or fret over an issue anymore. Maybe it’s a money issue. Maybe it’s a work-related issue. Maybe your relationship with someone has been suffering. Whatever the matter, we all get to a place in life where we just long for peace and calm. We long to a place where we can find rest for our soul.

Well, maybe we can learn something from the psalmist who obviously had been up against hardship, hardship that he needed saved from.

So where did he find rest for his soul?

Note that he only found it by turning to the Lord and experiencing His goodness. That goodness came in several ways:

1. Goodness was revealed through the Lord listening.

When we’re up against a problem, it’s good to know we can go to the Lord because He’s ever ready to listen to us. The psalmist tagged this as one of the things he loved about the Lord, that when he called out to Him with cries of mercy, the Lord turned His ear toward him. The Lord of the universe cared so much about this one man that He turned His ear to listen to him and him alone. This personalized relationship with our Almighty Father is one we should cherish and never take for granted. The psalmist certainly didn’t and vowed to call on the Lord for as long as he lived. We should do likewise.

2. The Lord’s goodness is revealed in His saving power.

We know the psalmist knew he could go to the Lord with whatever problem he was going through. And so when the cords of death entangled him and the anguish of the grave embraced him, drawing him into distress and sorrow, the psalmist did what he said he would do, he cried out to his go-to Lord in trust and said, “Lord, save me.” And the Lord answered and provided salvation as only He does. He saved the psalmist and He continues to save people today who turn to Him in trust. When it comes to life, we simply have to see Him as our only hope.

3. We find the Lord’s goodness in His grace.

What is amazing about the Lord is that He listens to us and saves us even though none of us warrant it. It never ceases to astonish me how the Lord still extends His goodness to those who are anything but good. Through our sinful nature, we don’t deserve anything but destruction and yet instead the Lord grants us mercy and love and forgiveness and grace. And not just any grace but amazing grace which saved a wretch like you and me, as the hymn so appropriately states. Want to be reminded of how good the Lord is? Just think about His grace.

4. Goodness is found in the Lord’s righteousness.

As much as we are not good, the Lord is perfectly good, unerring and flawlessly right. We can only start to move toward doing good in life by turning toward the Lord and His righteousness, allowing His Spirit to come within and guide us toward appropriate living. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Each and every day, we all should be hungering and thirsting for the righteousness and goodness only found in the Lord.

5. The Lord shows us His goodness in His compassion.

Ask yourself this, “Who cares for you more than the Lord?” If you truly know the Lord, then your answer should be no one. For no one loves you like the Lord, no one is there for you 24/7 except the Lord, no one can save you but the Lord, and no one forgives you like the Lord. No one in life wants more of the best for you except the Lord. So why would we turn anywhere else except toward the trustworthy, go-to Lord?

6. In the Lord’s protection, we find His goodness.

When the scriptures assure us that if God is for us, no one can be against us, we should find peace and comfort, and we should immediately see the Lord’s goodness on full display. Think about it. The divine Hands that created and fashioned the heavens and the earth, the heavenly Hands that formed you and me, these Hands of infinite power are ready to protect us. Who has a chance against that? And why would we trust anyone or anything more than the Lord?

Friends, God is truly good all the time. He listens. He saves. He is gracious and righteous and compassionate. And He is our great and mighty Protector.

The Lord is and will always be our trustworthy, go-to Lord. Let this ever brings our souls to rest as we remember, like the psalmist, about how good the Lord has been to us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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DEAD OR ALIVE?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The heavens belong to the Lord, but He has given the earth to all humanity. The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever!

Psalm 115:16-18 (New Living Translation)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

WRITER’S NOTE: I typically write from the New International Version but at times, I find that a certain passage will be better served through a different translation. Today is one of those days as I finish looking at the 115th Psalm through the lens of the New Living Translation.

Are you dead or alive?

The question might seem like a ridiculous one to anyone who tries to reason it out from a worldly physical perspective. I mean, of course one would have to be alive if they are able to read these words I am typing – right?

But when we look at life from a spiritual perspective, we can see that a person can actually be dead although they seem to be perfectly alive. Just take a look at the final verses of the 115th Psalm to see this validated by the Word of God:

The heavens belong to the Lord, but He has given the earth to all humanity. The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever!

As we go back to the beginning and the book of Genesis, we find God creating all things in heaven and on earth. He, the Creator of everything became Lord and Master of all, the only One who has dominion over every living thing. The Lord made man and woman and then gave the earth to them and the abundance of their offspring which today number more than seven billion. Look at the world around us today and it is just what we are making it to be, good and bad. 

And so mankind inhabit the earth they have been given but as we continue to read in our scripture passage, not everyone in mankind is the same. There are two distinct categories of people on earth: those who are dead and those who are alive.

As we look at verse 17, we find that the dead, those who fail to believe and trust in the Lord, cannot sing praises to the Lord. They are not living in Him or for him but rather for the world and the desires it presents them. Rather than surrender these desires for the desires of the Lord, they choose to live in death soon to go to the silence of the grave. Indeed, they are moving closer and closer each day to death and the end when they could have eternity. This truth leaves no room for celebration, only sadness and unfortunately, there are countless thousands and maybe even millions who are in this condition today.

Contrast this with the state of those who place their faith, hope, and trust in the Lord. They are not dead but very much alive in Him, able to celebrate and praise Him with thanksgiving, not just now but forever more.

And so the question remains, “Are you dead or alive?”

If you’re counted among the dead, my prayer is that you will have a change of heart today, allowing this word of the Lord to convict you and change you, to take you from death to life.

Trust me when I say you’ll never regret your decision.

Not now. Not forever. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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BLESSINGS TO MY READERS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to ourchristianwalk@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless His people Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron, He will bless those who fear the Lord — small and great alike.

May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 115:12-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Today marks a milestone. It is my 1,000th post. It’s been a journey to this point and I look forward to sharing the next 1,000 messages with you, God willing. May this post be a blessing to you as you have been a blessing to me.

The middle of the 115th Psalm contains some wonderful words for us to consider today, words that seem completely appropriate as I celebrate the opportunity to write my 1,000 blog today. Surely God has richly blessed me since I started this Christian walk through the Bible back on July 29th, 2007.

Reflecting on our blessings from God should be something we do regularly. The saying I like most on this subject states:

“Count your blessings and when you get finished, start counting them again.”

Truly, we should always remember just how the Lord has done for us and for those we know.

The psalmist surely didn’t lose sight of things. Look at his words from our scripture passage:

The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless His people Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron, He will bless those who fear the Lord — small and great alike.

May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

When we see just how much we’ve been blessed, we should always see that as a sign that the Lord does remember us. He isn’t just some Lord who rules from a distance in the heavens and has no desire to stoop to our level. No, our God communes with us. He lives and abides with us, providing for our needs in His perfect time because He perfectly knows what our needs our and how to handle them. We should rejoice and be glad that our Creator God loves and cares for us so intimately, like a parent loves and cares for their child.

Yes, God has blessed me so richly. He blessed me with a fantastic father and mother to raise me. He blessed me with three wonderful sisters and a brother to share life with. He blessed me with a loving Christian wife and two beautiful daughters who call me Dad. I have been blessed with a wonderful, long career of military service which allowed me to retire last year and then he blessed me with a great job post-Navy where I still get to help Sailors and their families. He blessed me with a magnificent church home and family at Bayside Baptist where we love one another while seeking to grow and trust in Christ Jesus. And he blessed me with many gifts to use to His glory, like singing and teaching and preaching and, of course, writing.

It’s through this last gift that I have had the opportunity to reach out to literally thousands upon thousands of people over the last six years. The Lord gives me the words to write and I do so in obedience. In turn, others have been richly blessed but I want you to know that you have blessed me as well and for that I am grateful.

So as I celebrate the moment today only to start again on my next 1,000 blogs tomorrow, I have a wish for all of you, my readers. It comes from the end of this passage today.

First, I pray that the Lord causes you to flourish, both you and your children. May He rain down His most abundant gifts upon you and yours.

This leads to my second wish – that you would be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth – now and forever.

God bless all of you and again, thanks for being faithful readers and blessing providers. 

Amen. 

In Christ,

Mark

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IN GOD WE TRUST

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to ourchristianwalk@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

All you Israelites, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

You who fear Him, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

Psalm 115:9-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I was behind a car yesterday with a Georgia license plate and I was drawn to four simple words at the plate’s base: In God We Trust. I loved that and found myself wishing this declaration was boldly proclaimed in other public places as prominently.

It was at that point that I realized that it was. For our national currency has had this message printed on it since the Civil War when it was imprinted on coins. The appeal for this action came from Reverend M. R. Watkinson, a minister from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania.

Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated.

Do you sense his concern over the spiritual state of the nation back in 1861? Could we be repeating his same concern today – that the national shame over disowning God as not the least of our current national disasters? In fact, instead of focusing ourselves on the economy or gun control or any other number of things we find our country squabbling about, maybe we should be just focusing our attention on God, the only One capable of getting us through the matters of life.

So how did Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase respond to Reverend Watkinson’s letter? He wrote the following direction to James Pollock, Director of the Philadelphia Mint:

Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.

You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.

And so the process began. It was discovered that an Act of Congress in 1837 had already prescribed mottoes to place on United States coins. Using this as guidance, Director Pollock proposed that either OUR COUNTRY, OUR GOD, or GOD, OUR TRUST should be imprinted on national coins. Secretary Chase responded to this in 1863 by saying:

I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST.

And so it was. The first appearance of the words “In God We Trust” was on two-cent coins in 1864. Look at your currency today and you’ll still see it there.

Of interest is that the words, “In God We Trust” were to be placed with the shield. We’re not told that this was by design to align with the scriptures but I sure would like to ask Secretary Chase if he had been reading the 115th Psalm when he was making his decision. For as we can see in this passage, seeing God as our Shield and the One we are to trust in is the central theme:

All you Israelites, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

You who fear Him, trust in the Lord — He is their help and shield.

The main themes are central to the matter of Christian faith. We are a people who need help. Without saving, we are destined for destruction because of our sinfulness. And so we seek and yearn for a Savior, someone who can rescue and protect us, not only from damnation but also from the trials we will face in life. We long for a help and shield – and in the Lord, we find just that, a Help and Shield we can always rely on and trust in. No one and nothing can shelter us like our Lord.

Friends, it’s high time we started to live with the attitude of “In God We Trust” that we find placed on license plates and currency. For unless we believe it with our hearts and show it through a steadfast faith in the Lord, they are just four words left empty and void. And that’s something we can’t ever allow to happen.

Amen. 

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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OUR GOD IS ALIVE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.

But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Psalm 115:2-8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

This world certainly offers a lot of things for people to worship.

Some people choose to worship money and the quest is so powerful that they won’t rest until they acquire riches and riches to be able to have anything their heart desires. Some people try and work their way to lavishness. Others try and cheat their way there. Still others try and gamble their way to the top whether at a casino or in playing the lottery. The problem is that even when people do acquire a little wealth, they never seem to be satisfied. One gain begets attempts to get another and another and another. Money can be like a drug that you can be addicted to.

Some people choose to worship their work. After all, most people can achieve their quest for money by working their way there. And so one will work and work and work and ever seek to climb the ladder of success, a longing that becomes almost obsessive in many cases. Work becomes such a time consumer that people are drawn into its vacuum and left with no time to do anything else.

Some people choose to worship sex. Love becomes lust and passion consumes a person to the point where their need for self satisfaction and emotional ecstasy trumps everything else in life, even if it means being unfaithful to a person they have married and committed their life to. Television these days offers shows that are underscored by sexual undertones and the Internet, once a fount for those seeking knowledge, has been prostituted by pornography, offering web surfers a fount of web sites to fulfill their hunger for sexual satisfaction.

And then there’s the worship of one’s self. In other words, you are centered on the things that make you feel good. This path leads people to fixations on any number of things. Some people will go to the gym obsessively to try and craft a body that will draw everyone’s attention, going well beyond just exercising and taking care of themselves. Others can’t turn away from food and will eat themselves into obesity and the health problems that come with being overweight. Still others turn to substances that will make them feel good artificially like alcohol and drugs. Despite knowing the addictive pitfalls of these substances, people are so consumed with achieving emotional highs that they are willing to do whatever it takes to have them.

There are certainly more things that could be mentioned here but you get the point. It’s little wonder why Jesus said the following in His Sermon on the Mount:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21

What Jesus was getting at was worshipping the things of the world is a fleeting proposition. These things the world offer are here today and gone tomorrow. None of them are eternal in nature. Instead of pursuing the things that lead to death, Jesus espouses pursuing the things that bring us life and not just life in the here and now but life everlasting.

And we get that life from the One who is the source of life.

Look at today’s passage from the 115th Psalm:

Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.

But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Note the competing factions at play here. There are the people who are believers in God versus the people who choose to worship the world and its ways.

The people who are so infatuated with the world and idolatry question whether God exists. They are so blinded by the idols created by their own hands that they can no longer see that God is present with them. Their focus is on their own desires that they have shut out God’s desires for them. The result is self centeredness and a lifelessness that rivals the things they choose to worship.

The scriptures share that the worshipped idols have mouths but can’t speak, eyes but can’t see, ears but can’t hear, noses but no sense of smell, hands that couldn’t feel, feet that can’t walk, and throats that utter nothing. Now ask yourself about money and sex and success and food and drugs and alcohol. Are they not the same?

Friends, chasing after the desires of one’s own heart will only leave to a life that is empty and dead, ultimately unfulfilling. French philosopher Blaine Pascal said there is a God-shaped vacuum in every one’s heart that only God can fill. Maybe you have that feeling of emptiness inside, a God-shaped hole that is in need of filling.

The good news is that today you can call on the God who is very much alive, the God who created you, the God who the psalmist proclaims is in heaven and ready to do as He pleases in carrying out His will on earth until the day when He sends His Son Jesus back to bring salvation to all those who placed their faith and trust in Him.

You have a critical choice to make.

Will you worship the world and the idols it offers, opting to walk a path of death and destruction?

Or will you choose to worship the Lord and the abundant life now and forever that He offers?

If I were you, I would choose the Lord.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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