A Heart Prepared

Proverbs 16 and the heart
1¶The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Here we see an iteration of the words of our Lord in Matt 12:34, ...for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

If our heart is properly prepared, that is, it is the abode of Christ by His holy Spirit, and is principled by the Word of the Lord, then the tongue will bring forth the heart's overflow.

Four types of hearts are shown in this chapter:
The Proud heart - vs 5
The Planning heart - vs 9
The Prudent heart - vs 21
The Pliable heart - vs 23

God, let my plans for this day be inspired by your Word and your Spirit. I pray that my heart would a repository of your wisdom and prudence. And finally, Lord, keep my mind and heart open to the lessons you have for me today. Amen!

An Active Relationship - Psalm 63

I often hear of others who KNOW they are saved. They know they have Jesus as their Savior, but they admit that they really don’t have much of a personal relationship with Him. I am afraid this is something all of us must develop. Relationships are developed by spending time with each other and sharing each other’s hearts. Please bear these in mind as you consider this simple outline of the 63^rd Psalm.

Note the title of the Psalm - [[A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.]]

David was on the run…again! It is hard for us to imagine living this way. If nothing else, it would get our prayer lives on track. But really, aren’t we all on the run? We are running in circles, running to keep up, running to pursue dreams, running from our past, running to put out fires, running, running, running.

May I suggest that, rather than running, we become active in productive ways, building our relationship with Him? Here is what we find David actively doing, while on the run…

We find him:

Seeking   1

Thirsting   1

Longing   1

Seeing   2

Praising   3

Blessing   4

Lifting   4

Remembering   6

Meditating  6

Rejoicing  7

Following  8

Rejoicing  11

Swearing  11

Glorying  11

Let’s actively pursue the God Who is always pursuing us. 

What is He to Me

Psalm 62. What is He to Me?

My Hope 1
My Salvation  1
My Rock  2
My Defense 2
My Stability 2
My Expectation  5
My Glory  7
My Strength 7
My Refuge  7
My Power 11
My Reward  12

"Jesus is Beside Himself."

Mark 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

He is beside himself???

Jesus' own friends were so concerned about the abuse of their Master, pressed into service, restless days and sleepless nights, lack of sustenance, disease all about, that they talked one another into the belief that He didn't realize what He was doing.

Who were these friends? Well, there were his new friends, the disciples. Then there were his neighbors - because he lived in Capernaum now. And possibly even some of his family.

Contrast the concern of these well-meaning friends with the spite of the enemies who accused Him of being demonized.

But His reasoning in 23-29 proved all of them misguided.

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

Truth is, it is Satan who is beside himself, and, to be honest, it is often we who are beside ourselves. He knows exactly what He is doing at all times. Best to take our hands off the wheel and cede the controls to Him. 

Jesus in the House

Mark 2:1-13
When Jesus is in the house:
1. The house is filled. In this case, it was filled with people, but in any case, if He is present, the house is filled with all that He is. Vss 1-2
2. There is faith in the house. Took some work, but faith made it happen. Vss 3-4
3. There is forgiveness in the house. Vs 5
4. There may be fury present. Vss 6-7. Any work of God will be met with the enemy's wrath.
5. There is a certain amount of fashion! Vs 12, "We never saw it on this fashion." The  "fashionable" church goer isn't concerned about a change of clothes, but a change of life.

It would do us well to bathe every get together with prayer, pleading for Him to be present in the house.

The Devil Went Down to Eden

Since the devil's holiday is in a few days, I will give him his due in this blog. 

We have recorded on 3 possessions by Satan himself.

1. The Serpent in the Garden of Eden

2. The Betrayer in the Garden of Gethsemane

3. The Anti-Christ in the Garden of Babylon

We talk about being harassed by the devil. But he is much too busy with the big fish to mess with you and me, so he dispatches his minions, emissaries, demons to our front door.

It is generally a misnomer to witness a demon possession and say of that person that they are possessed by the devil. A devil, maybe, but the devil, probably not.

He is going to and fro on the earth, seeking whom he may devour. He does wear out the saints. He is busy targeting nations, ministries, homes and individuals for destruction. He is the father of liars, who has come to steal, kill and destroy.

But he personally has much bigger fish to fry than you and me, so his sends his little uglies, his flying monkeys, his fallen angels to do his bidding to hassle us. I doubt he even knows my name. One, because he’s too stupid, two, because I am of little consequence to him.  So he employs his helpers for the likes of me.

And he has plenty of them! For every two angels, there is one fallen angel. And just as God sends forth his angels as ministering spirits, Satan sends his brats to wreak havoc. 

He desired to have Peter, and no doubt, sift Peter as wheat and major damage will have been done the Kingdom of God.

Even Paul was assailed by a messenger of Satan to afflict him with a thorn in his flesh to distract him from his gospel mission. Praise God for the grace that was given to overcome.

But there were and are at least three times when the job was/is so important that he had to do it himself. These incidents portended the fall of the human race, the assassination of the Lord of glory and the future subjugation of the planet to himself.

However, what Satan means for evil, the Lord turns to good. Joseph said something similar to his brothers when he assured them that the evil they meant for him resulted in the preservation of the planet.

The Three Actual Possessions by the Devil Himself:

1. The Possession of the Serpent. Satan, through the creepy-crawly, convinced Eve that God was holding out on her and her husband, so she ate the tutti-fruity of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged mankind into sin. But God had a plan in place. In Genesis 3:15, he promised the devil, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

This spoke of the victory Christ would have over Satan at Calvary. Which brings us to the next incident of satanic possession.

2. The Possession of Judas. Judas was an extremely flawed man. Though rising to the rank of Disciple, he was still dabbling in thievery, greed and sedition. He was an apt candidate to help bring about the end of the Messiah. He was physically close to Jesus, but his heart was a million miles away. But he was on the fence, all he needed was a nudge, a little filling of the prince of darkness himself and the deed was done. Judas betrayed the Lord, resulting in His death. Luke 22:3, "Then entered Satan into Judas..."

What God saw in advance and what we see in retrospect, neither the devil (due to pride) nor Judas (because of spite) were able to grasp at the time. Jesus is about to crush Satan's head in death...and resurrection.

3) The Possession of Anti-Christ. Satan, 2000 years down the road, give or take a few years, will give it another try when he enters into the Beast, squats on the ark in the temple, setting himself up as God and demanding universal worship and subsequently pursuing the Jews into the wilderness to destroy them.

Again, God will show up to guard and guide His own and destroy the works of Satan once and for all.

May I ask you even now, whose side are you on in this age old battle between God and Satan, good and evil, life and death? Choose today who you will serve.

Personally, I've read the back of the Book and WE WIN!!!

If I Were a Rich Man

The tale of three very rich men in the book of Luke

1) The Rich Old Miser. 16:19-31

2) The Rich Young Ruler. 18:18-23

3) The Rich Little Publican. 19:1-10

One was carried away to hell, suffering because of his stinginess.

One went away sorrowing, because of his covetousness.

One came down joyfully, because of his resourcefulness.

One was brought up with a silver spoon because he was privileged, but he went

away condemned for his hedonism.

One was brought up righteous but went away a sinner condemned for his idolatry.

One was brought up a sinner, but that day, salvation came to his house because of

His obedience .

Riches, they are what you make of them. Or, you are what they make of you! 

There are two other rich men depicted in this gospel:

*Joseph, the rich man of Arimathaea, who cared for the body of Jesus and placed

him in his own tomb (Lk 23:50-53) Joseph represents all believers who use their

resources for the propagation of the Gospel. (The Gospel is the death, burial and

resurrection of Jesus.)

*The rich man who called his steward to accountability (Lk 16:1-8) and

commended the steward for his wise use of his master’s riches. This rich man

represents He Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and commissions His 

stewards to invest wisely in the Kingdom.