O God! You are my God!

Posted on February 24, 2019 by PastorDave

Psalm 63.1-4

A Davidic psalm. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.

1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.

2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.

3 My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life.

4 So I will praise You as long as I live; at Your name, I will lift up my hands.

David is praying this prayer of worship – and exclaiming this confession of his undying and unwavering devotion to God – NOT while he was on his way to worship before God in the tabernacle/tent he had built for God to house the beloved and venerable Ark of the Covenant.

NO! David is hurriedly evacuating Jerusalem – picking up whatever he could carry with him and fleeing his palace and City of God because his son, Absalom, has staged a deep-state coup against him, and is even now on his way to Jerusalem with his gang of conspirators to occupy the throne, the kingdom, and the capital city.

David has even sent back the beloved Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. When Abiathar and Zadok had followed King David out of the city in the train of evacuees – with the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant – David sent them back to the city.

2 Samuel 15.25-26 ~ Then the king instructed Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, He will bring me back and allow me to see both it and its dwelling place. 26 However, if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am—He can do with me whatever pleases Him.”

Such was David’s absolute submission to God’s sovereign pleasure and will with him. “Whether I return to Jerusalem and all that I’m leaving behind…or not – that is the LORD’s call. He can do with me whatever pleases Him.”

But, it was THEN – and in those seasons and circumstances of devastating loss and deprivation – that David exclaimed: “O GOD, YOU ARE MY GOD!”

And, he knew and was confident, even as he headed further and further into the barren wilderness wasteland that GOD WOULD BE THERE! He would still meet God at the intersection of his desires and God’s steadfast love [verse 3].

He couldn’t go to the Tabernacle House of God, he couldn’t appear and worship before the physical Ark of the Covenant where God manifested His dwelling place – BUT HE WOULD STILL DESIRE GOD AND GOD WOULD SATISFY THE DESIRES OF HIS HEART…WITH HIMSELF AND HIS STEADFAST LOVE!

So, even in the wilderness – DAVID WILL SEEK THE LORD AND LIFT HIS HANDS IN DEVOTION, WORSHIP, AND PRAISE!

So, even right now – I have no idea what sort of ‘wilderness’ you may be wandering in – what deprivation you are suffering – what sort of ‘dry and weary land where there is no water’ landscape you may be looking at.

COME TO WORSHIP! God will meet your destitute and impoverished soul with His riches of Grace in the Gospel of Christ!

Psalm 63.5 ~ You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

And, God will satisfy your deepest needs for Him, too!

If you are interested in viewing/listening to a message I preached from Psalm 63 in one of our church’s Midweek services – here is the link:

Posted in I've been thinking, Psalm 63, Worship | Leave a comment

Six years ago today – and still ‘transfixed on Jesus’ Face’!

Posted on February 10, 2019 by PastorDave

dsp.PIC.Dad-full-head-shotToday is The Lord’s Day, February 10, 2019.

I am noting the date and day because today is the sixth anniversary (2013) of our Dad’s dying from here and going Home to Heaven and entering the Presence of Christ.

I insist on calling his physical death “dying from here” because for a Christian and a believer in Jesus Christ, physical death is only “dying from here.”

Physical death for a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ is not a cessation from being or existence. Nor are we zapped into nothingness or ether.

It is only “dying from here” to be transitioned to the Presence of Christ.

This is what God promises us in the Scriptures.

“So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight, 8 and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.” [2 Corinthians 5.6-8 HCSB]

So, when our Dad “died from here,” he just transitioned from living here in his physical body of flesh and blood [he always called it “this tabernacle of clay”] to living in the body Christ has prepared for him in Heaven.

So, as I was saying, that was six years ago today.

And, six years ago, February 10 was on a Lord’s Day also. I remember it so well.

But, today, six years later, I am feeling much more emotional about that day six years ago than I remember feeling on any of the other 2,190 days since then.

On that day Dad died from here, I think that, honestly, all we could feel was thanksgiving to God for releasing and relieving him from the sufferings that eventually led to his death. His last days were excruciatingly painful for him – and for us to have to witness it. His body had so deteriorated that it was starting to break down with him still barely breathing inside it. He would cry out in pain every time someone touched him to care for him.

And so, when the Lord finally called him to walk that last final stretch of ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ and into the blazing light of Glory, we could only rejoice and be happy for him – and thank God for finally receiving him Home to His Presence.

I also remember so well how the church services went that day as we were waiting for his going Home. I announced that morning in the church I was pastoring at the time that I had been talking with our family caring for Dad, and that his condition was moment-by-moment. [I was in Kentucky – they were in North Carolina.]

That morning, in our song-worship, we sang Matt Redman’s song “Ten Thousand Reasons” or “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

We sang that third stanza:

“And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still, my soul will sing Your praise unending –
Ten thousand years and then forevermore”

…and as I am singing those words, I am thinking of our Dad’s last strength failing, his end drawing near, his time coming – but ‘still his soul will sing God’s praise unending – ten thousand years and then forevermore!’

My heart was so full of praise to God that this is so – and our Dad was about to enter into it!

This is true! This is our reality in times of physical death from here! This is God’s Grace! This is God’s Promise in Christ! This is our assurance and our hope!

I got word just later in the afternoon of that day that Dad had breathed his last breath here, and was in the Presence of Christ.

When we returned for our evening service, one of our brothers met me in the entrance hallway, and asked, “Dave, how’s your Dad?” I wanted to wait until I could announce and tell everyone at the same time, so I stalled him and replied, “Thank you for asking – he’s about the same.”

When the service started, and I got up to speak, I looked at this brother and called him by name, and said, “Brother, when you asked me a few minutes ago how Dad is, I told you ‘he’s about the same.’ I lied to you. He is not ‘about the same’ – he is ‘far better!’”

I then quoted the apostle Paul in Philippians 1.21-23 [HCSB]:

“For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. 23 I am pressured by both. I have the desire to depart and be with Christ—which is far better…”

 Then I went to describe how “far better” Dad actually “is” from Psalm 16.11 [HCSB]:

“You reveal the path of life to me;
in Your Presence is abundant joy;
in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”

All of that is why we felt mostly just joy for him – imagining as best we could the ‘path of life’ he was seeing, the ‘abundant fullness of joy’ he was enjoying in Christ’s very Presence, and the ‘eternal pleasures’ he was beginning to discover and explore! And, all the while, “still my soul will sing Your praise unending – ten thousand years and then forevermore – FOREVERMORE!”

So, that brings me to today, February 10, 2019. For some reason, this sixth anniversary has been more emotional than any of the previous anniversaries – or other days – since.

Not sad – just emotional.

Then, it suddenly hit me during our worship service today. We are singing again about seeing Christ – personally, face-to-face.

This morning, it was while singing “Praise the Name of the Lord our God.”

Fourth stanza:  

“He shall return in robes of white
The blazing sun shall pierce the night
And I will rise among the saints
My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ Face!”

So, I’m already thinking about Dad anyway – and I could see him – there in the very Personal Presence of Jesus Christ Himself – singing some adaptation of that line:

“My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ Face!”

Then I understood that what has been making me so emotional today is that I am believing, I am realizing, I am actualizing, I am fore-tasting that THIS IS SO!

When we die from here, we really do enter the Presence of Jesus Christ!

We really do – and will – see His Face!

To die from here and to be absent from this physical body really is to be present with the Lord!

And so, the emotions that I am feeling today are the exultations of assurance, the stirrings of hope, and the anticipations of my own joy when I will join Dad and all the others who will be there with us –

“My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ Face!”

And, I like it!      

Posted in Dad, For My Father, I've been thinking | Leave a comment

Why is praying so hard?

Posted on February 8, 2019 by PastorDave

WHY IS PRAYING SO HARD?

We all know that we must pray. We are commanded to pray.

And, praying is not just a duty, it is our means of personal, interactive communion with God.

And, truth be told, we want to pray. For those of us who are born-again children of God, there is an inner longing to pray. There is a constant reaching out to God – to touch the invisible.

But, why is it so difficult to pray?

I have some reasons why it is so hard for ME to pray. You may or may not identify with these, or you may struggle with your own hindrances to praying.

But, for me:

PRAYING IS HARD BECAUSE I CAN’T SEE WHAT’S GOING ON

God promises and assures us over and over in His Word that He hears us when we pray. And that our praying not only reaches the ears of the LORD OF ARMIES [Hosts/Sabaoth], but that He responds and answers back. [see Daniel 9.23 & 10.12]

He does things here in our world in response to our praying. [see, for example, Psalm 18]

But, we can’t see that happening. It’s all going on in the realms of God’s Providence. And, God may take His sweet, wise, and gracious time in responding to our praying.

In the meantime, here I am – still calling on Him for things that I am persuaded are His will.

But, since I can’t see that happening, I get discouraged. I don’t want to think I am just praying and pleading into the air!

PRAYING IS HARD BECAUSE I’M NOT IN CONTROL

I am a control-freak because I am a human being.

All of us broken, fallen, sinful human beings are control-freaks in that we want our own way. I am, by my fallen Adam-nature, a “Me-centered” creature. I want my life my way – and I want it NOW!

And, if I can’t make it happen the way I want it to happen, then I’ll try to get God to do it for me.

Even when I am praying, I find myself wanting to tell God what I want instead of praying like Jesus taught us to pray by His own example, “Not my will, but Yours, be done.”

But, I am not in charge or in control of any of my praying.

In fact, if I was in charge or control of anything, I probably would not be praying to begin with. If I was in charge or control of the matter, I would have already done or would be doing it.

My lack of control makes it necessary for me to pray – and it makes it hard for me to pray.

But, that is the very reason I must pray. Because God is the God here. He is the One who is in charge and in control of all things.

PRAYING IS HARD BECAUSE I FEEL MY UNWORTHINESS TO PRAY

I know what Solomon meant when he prayed at the dedication of the Temple in 1 Kings 8.38-39:

“…whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind)…”

“Each knowing the affliction of his own heart,” or as the KJV renders it, “which shall know every man the plague of his own heart.”

Oh, yes! this man knows ‘the plague of his own heart’! And, it makes my praying hard.

I am intimidated from approaching the Sovereign Holiness of God while knowing the plague of sin that rages in my own heart!

But, that is why we pray! In fact, in that very prayer in 1 Kings 8, Solomon’s theme and thread that ties this whole Temple dedication prayer together is the thread that we will turn to God and pray when we have sinned – and God will forgive…He promises!

But, I have to preach this to myself over and over. My bad conscience makes it hard for me to pray.

PRAYING IS HARD BECAUSE I KNOW MY OWN WEAKNESSES

Of course – I am weak!

Again, it is the very sense of my very weakness that drives me to pray in spite of the difficulty of the very praying.

I pray best when I pray desperate.

And, that, too, is by God’s design. He makes me weak – He makes me desperate – He makes me needy – He breaks me from thinking I am strong and “I’ve got this” so I will fall upon Him and His mercy!

And, He is always there!

And so – rather than being discouraged and hindered and intimidated from praying by all these human frailties – I should be emboldened and encouraged by them – TO PRAY!

Hebrews 4.14-16 ~ Since then we have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the Throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

LET’S PRAY!

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DAILY TIME WITH GOD – “Let me see your face, let me hear your voice!”

Posted on February 5, 2019 by PastorDave

DAILY TIME WITH GOD

When our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray, He instructed us to get alone with our Father – just Him and me – and shut down and shut out all the other distractions to my attention, and pray to Him in that ‘secret place.’

Matthew 6.6 [CSB] ~ “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

That’s what Jesus promised. Your Father is actually, really, Personally in the secret place and with you in the exercise of our praying to Him.

And, He wants to meet with you there. He delights in you and delights to spend time with you.

In the Song of Solomon, the bridegroom [the man, the husband] calls out to his beloved bride [the woman, the wife] in the most passionate and endearing of terms – as he appeals to her to respond to his call to come and meet him and spend some time with him…he is really missing her and the pleasure of being with her!

Song of Solomon 2.14 [CSB] ~ “My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

Can you not hear the voice and the call of our Father in those same passionate words of invitation?

OUR FATHER DELIGHTS IN US –

HE DELIGHTS IN OUR COMPANY –

HE WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH US –

ESPECIALLY IN OUR PRAYING TO HIM!

If my Father so delights in me – and so passionately wants to see my face and hear my voice – then He is certainly worthy of my shutting down all the other distracting voices and shutting the door on the competitors trying to snatch my attention – and delight in Him in times of private prayer.

That’s why, for the past many years, I have chosen to call the time I devote each day to meeting the God who is “there” and who is “here” with me – I have chosen to call that time my Daily Time With God.

He wants to see my face! And He wants to hear my voice!

And I certainly want – and need – to see His Face of Pleasure and hear His Voice of Life!

How loving and gracious He is to promise to meet me and spend time with me!

Posted in Delighting in God, I've been thinking, Prayer | Leave a comment

O, the pure delight!

Posted on February 1, 2019 by PastorDave

I am fascinated by Jesus Christ’s praying.

He was, of course, the Perfect Pray-er.

And, I should be imploring Him to teach me to pray just like His disciples implored Him [Luke 11.1].

But, I am interested and intrigued by what most motivated Jesus to pray? What were His strongest and most compulsive impulses to pray to God, His Father?

Why did Jesus pray?

  • It was not to confess His sins because He had no sins to confess.
  • It was not totally because He didn’t know what He should do – because He did know why He had come into the world.
  • It was not totally because He had no power, ability, or strength to accomplish what He did know that He should do – though He always prayed in cooperation and conformity to His Father’s will.

So – if Jesus did NOT pray for those reasons, then why DID Jesus pray?

Like this, for example:

Luke 6.12 [HCSB] ~ During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.

WHY? What did He pray about? What was He thinking and saying to God, His Father, during those hours of praying?

Or this time:

Matthew 14.22-23 [HCSB] ~ Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. 23 After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. [see also Mark 6.45-46 & John 6.15]

Again, WHY? WHY did He go off by Himself into the secluded mountain terrain to pray? What was He thinking and saying during those hours alone with God, His Father?

Mark will give us a clue into the answer to this question – and the same clue is repeated also in Matthew and Luke. The previous setting up of this ‘prayer get-away’ [that Jesus eventually, late in the day, got around to] is that Jesus had been trying to get away from the demands of the crowds and their needs, and the pressing stresses of His daily ministry activities in order to find some much-needed and much-desired time alone with His Father!

Mark 6.30-33 [HCSB] tells us what was first order of business on that day’s agenda:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, 33 but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

Do you see that? Jesus was actually trying to get away from the pressing demands and activities of His daily ministry for some time alone with His Father!

Then – that’s when what we know as “the feeding of the 5000” interrupted and ‘hijacked’ His “quiet time” with God!

So – when Jesus finally DID get back to His priority activity – i.e., time alone with God & praying to His Father – DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTION AT ALL WHAT HIS MOTIVATION AND PRESSING IMPULSE FOR PRAYING WAS – AND WHAT HE WAS THINKING AND SAYING DURING THESE SOLITARY SEASONS OF PRAYER?

It was this:

THE PRIMARY REASON AND MOTIVATION FOR WHY JESUS HIMSELF PRAYED WAS: TO DELIGHT IN GOD!

Jesus prayed TO DELIGHT IN THE PRESENCE, IN THE WILL, IN THE PLEASURE OF HIS FATHER!

And, that is our lesson: SO SHOULD WE!

Our first and foremost and most pressing motivation, our most driving desire, our most compulsive impulse for our praying should be: TO DELIGHT IN GOD’S PRESENCE, GOD’S WILL, AND GOD’S PLEASURE!

We sing, saying that it is!

“O the pure delight of a single hour

that before Thy Throne I spend

when I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God,

I commune as friend with Friend”

~ Fanny J. Crosby, “I am Thine, O Lord”

Yet, we may question ourselves:

  • “Do I delight in God to that degree?
  • Do I even know enough about God that I could delight in Him for a single hour?
  • Do I prefer the delight of God’s Presence and company more than everything else I could be doing to give that time to be delighting in Him?”

Make some time today to DELIGHT IN GOD!

It will not ‘just happen.’ You will never, ever, ‘find time to pray and delight in God’ any more than Jesus could ‘find time to pray.’

You will have to do what Jesus did – MAKE TIME TO SPEND ALONE WITH GOD!

But, the delight you enjoy and receive from that dedicated communion will make you wonder why you have waited so long – and why you don’t enjoy delighting in Him more often!

Posted in Delighting in God, I've been thinking, Prayer | Leave a comment

Jesus – tempted like we are!

Posted on January 22, 2019 by PastorDave

jesus-facedown-gethsemane

Jesus was tempted just like we are!

Just like Jesus – you, too, can expect the fiercest, most vicious attacks of temptation to sin – especially during those seasons when you are most fervently committing yourself to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” [Hebrews 4.15]

Since Jesus Christ Himself is our Supreme Example and Model to follow in our own temptations to sin – then you, too, can expect our Adversary to mount his most fierce and ferocious attacks against you to tempt you to sin – even in those same seasons when you may be most fervent in committing yourself to love the LORD, your God, with all your heart.

Just anticipate it, expect it, prepare for it.

Just witness our Lord Jesus Christ.

When did He face the two most vicious and violent temptations to break the covenant of love and obedience He had made with His Father?

[1] Was it not following His baptism and public commitment of His life to do His Father’s will [Matthew 3.13-17]?  Matthew and Luke both highlight the intersection of Jesus’ baptism and His crisis temptation experience in the wilderness [Matthew 4.1 & Luke 4.1-2]. Luke even includes that “Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit…”  Jesus’ commitment of His life to love God with all His heart [as testified by His baptism] immediately set the stage to be tempted by the devil to violate that very commitment He had just made.

In fact, Jesus answered the devil’s temptations by quoting the First and Greatest Commandment of all: to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength [Deuteronomy 6.4-5 & 13].

The point being: when you, too, make the same commitment to renew and refresh your commitment to love God with all your heart, then don’t be surprised when the most vile, the most vehement, the most vicious temptations rise up and begin to rage in your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and desires!

Even Jesus’ “being filled with the Holy Spirit” did not prevent Him from being assaulted with temptations by the Evil One to violate that covenant of love and obedience He had just confessed to the Father by His baptism.

And, it will not prevent you from being tempted with the vilest of sins that the Adversary can mount against you.

[2] And was Jesus not violently tempted to sin also in the Garden of Gethsemane as He was making His final commitment to the death on the Cross?

This season of temptation had been raging in His soul for days before! In John 12.27-28, Jesus had passionately groaned out: “Now my soul is troubled! What should I say – ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But that is why I came to this hour. ‘Father, glorify Your Name!’”

And, then, He comes to Gethsemane. He knows He is facing the violent temptations of
Satan against His very soul and mission.

Gethsemane is the Rubicon of Redemption. He must cross over to go on to the Cross.

But, He will have to fight the struggles of temptation to get there.

Matthew 26.36-39 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow—to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me.” 39 Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

He was being tempted to opt for another, less painful, way to save His people from their sins.  His temptation on that occasion was no intense and severe that He sweat blood from the pores of His skin [Luke 22.44].

Temptation to sin is always disturbing, unsettling, traumatic. And, especially when we are blind-sided during seasons when we think we are seeking God and enjoying the fellowship of love that we so passionately desire.

Those assaults of pride, self-will, desires of all evil sorts [“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions”] can make us question whether we can even have Grace at all and still entertain such violent struggles at the same time?

Just remember: Jesus was tempted also…just like you are being tempted! He also was tempted in every way as we are – yet without sin!

“Therefore, let us approach the Throne of Grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need!” [Hebrews 4.15-16]

During the seasons of His most violent temptations to sin against His Father, “then an angel from Heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him” [Luke 22.43].

And, He will strengthen you, too!

Posted in CONQUER, I've been thinking, Temptation | Leave a comment

SOS

Posted on November 29, 2018 by PastorDave

images-1

Several weeks ago, we conducted and I attended a special service to give three of our young interns the opportunity to preach. This was to fulfill a seminary class assignment [also taught by our faithful pastor, Hershael W. York], but it was also an inspiring and encouraging worship service. I remember and was personally impressed by them all, but one in particular was especially poignant for me.

He delivered his message from Jonah 2, and the theme of his message was how Jonah cried out to the LORD in his distress, and the LORD heard him and delivered him. He challenged us all to do the same.

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.

He began his message by reminding us of the various ‘distress signals’ that are employed and we use when we are in various dangerous situations and need to be rescued. Being a self-professed Florida ‘beach boy’ himself, he related how that he himself had been caught in the undertow on a Florida beach and was being pulled away and into danger. He called out to the other companions who were on the beach, and they came to his rescue and saved him.

I have my own SOS distress signals that I am more personally and intentionally focusing on right now – for quite some time – in my own walk with Christ. We are always warring against our indwelling sin, sometimes more fiercely and intently than at other times, but it is always there, and we must be warring back against it. See especially Romans 7.7-25 and 1 Peter 2.11-12 and others. I am calling my focused distress signals by the most prominent, well-known, and most often used distress signal “SOS” – and, in my case, I am meaning Sins Of Self.

I so battle against my Sins Of Self. Often, we are blinded to our own Sins Of Self – and our inattention and neglect of dealing with them become in themselves more compounded Sins Of Self. In a section of Paul’s own personal testimony concerning his own Sins Of Self, he confesses how that he often did previously [and continued to do at the time of his writing] commit Sins Of Self, either unknowingly [without recognizing and identifying them as such], or knowingly [because of the strength and relentless tenacity of his residual indwelling sin nature]. Our own Sins Of Self are so self-deceptive. We either promote them or at least allow them just because of our love of ourselves.

So, let me just note a few of the Sins Of Self that the LORD, in His love for me, is reviving in my consciousness and conscience:

  • self-confidence
  • self-reliance
  • self-sufficiency
  • self-will
  • self-interest
  • self-seeking
  • self-promotion
  • self-exaltation
  • self-admiration
  • self-absorption
  • self-gratification
  • self-excusing
  • self-justification
  • self-pity
  • self-etc., etc., etc.

I realize that some of these are only nuances of others, but my Sins Of Self become very nuanced, entangled, and they continue to feed and multiply off of themselves.

Sometimes I wonder…“What will I ever do about my Sins Of Self?

  • Will I ever gain mastery over them [1 Corinthians 9.24-27]?
  • Will they, after all, consume me? [I don’t want to become digestive material in the belly of my Sins Of Self!]
  • I am already ‘beaten black and blue’ by the internal conflicts and struggles?
  • Where is my rescue, deliverance, salvation?”

Sometimes I wish I could vomit them out like the fish vomited out Jonah onto dry land, and be done with them, and go on my way un-harassed by them!

So, I do what Jonah did, and what Paul did – I call on the LORD in my distress. I send my SOS distress signal to Him, and I discover, again like Jonah and Paul, that “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” [Jonah 2.9].

Paul cries out in his desperate distress – listen to his SOS distress signal – “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” [Romans 7.24]

The answer is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. [Romans 7.25 and following…]

Jesus Christ has not only rescued and delivered me from the condemnation of my Sins Of Self, but He has given me His indwelling Holy Spirit who lives in me. He enables and strengthens me by the very resurrection life of Christ Himself.

I am singing again!

“But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. 

Salvation belongs to the LORD!” [Jonah 2.9]

Posted in CONQUER, I've been thinking, SOS | Leave a comment

His Perfect, Precious Blood

Posted on September 22, 2018 by PastorDave

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HIS PERFECT, PRECIOUS BLOOD!

A Simple Song of Experience

“For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb” 1 Peter 1.18-19 CSB

When I stand before the bar of the Holy God,

and the books are opened that Day –

will I claim as my salvation some good work that I’ve done

or some service I have rendered to pay

for all the sins that I’ve committed and for coming short

of the law and the Glory of God?

Oh, no, I won’t! I’ll have one plea, and He is Jesus Christ

and HIS PERFECT, PRECIOUS BLOOD!

For His Blood has saved me, and ever will – even at that Judgment Day!

For His Blood has cleansed me and made me whole, and has taken my sins away!

By His Blood I’m redeemed, and I’m justified –

Christ perfected my record for me!

God has charged Him with my sin,

and charged me with His righteousness.

I’m a child of God, adopted and free!

And now the law cannot condemn me – it’s demands were met

by the Spotless Lamb of God!

He’s forgiven my transgressions, washed away my stain

by HIS PERFECT, PRECIOUS BLOOD!

For His Blood has saved me, and ever will – even at that Judgment Day!

For His Blood has cleansed me and made me whole, and has taken my sins away!

~dsp

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THE GOD WHO CAN

Posted on August 16, 2018 by PastorDave

THE GOD WHO CAN! [a simple Song of Experience by Dave Parks]

Mark 9.22-24 [ESV] ~ “…But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

“Difficult…to impossible!” are the words that come to mind

when I try to describe this problem that plagues me all the time.

It saps my strength, and robs my sleep, and keeps my nerves on edge –

I keep thinking it will go away – but it simply will not budge.

I’ve tried all that I know to do, but still it’s all in vain;

the answer dances off…then turns to laugh and mock my pain!

So, I bring it all to Jesus – why had I not before?

He is the same…both yesterday, today, and evermore.

He calls: “Come to Me, you weary, you trauma-ridden soul,

bring Me your sins and sorrows, and I will make you whole!”

But I stagger at the promise, I stumble in my grief:

“LORD, I know that I should believe, but help my unbelief!

I know that I should trust You, and I would, LORD, if I could…

but can You heal this trauma, and work it out for good?

I would gladly bring my burden, and the failure of my plans;

LORD, it is quite beyond me – so, please help me…if You can!”

He roars with indignation: “You ask ME ‘if I can’?

I made the earth and heavens, and rule by My command.

Who do you think I AM, My child – I’M God…and not a man –

I do whatever I desire, and who can stay My hand?

I calm the storms and the raging seas by saying: ‘Peace – be still!’

and every spirit in the world is subject to My will!

How dare you doubt Omnipotence, provoking Me again –

I AM the God of miracles, and you ask ME ‘if I can’!”

I melted in repentance…my doubt had turned to faith –

I saw the wretched folly and my sin of unbelief –

for to doubt that God can do it…is to doubt that He is God,

and to say that He has lied in all the promises He’s made!

For He says that though my problem like a towering mountain be,

with the prayer of supplication can be cast into the sea!

So I cried, “O, LORD, I do believe, I take You at Your Word,

that ‘Everything is possible to those who trust the LORD!’”

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO TRUST THE LORD,

SO CAST YOUR CARE AND BURDEN ON THE PROMISE OF HIS WORD!

HE SITS UPON A THRONE OF GRACE – HE IS “THE GREAT I AM”!

HE IS THE GOD OF MIRACLES!

HE IS “THE GOD WHO CAN”!

dsp

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We pray because God is where we can’t be – and does what we can’t do!

Posted on July 5, 2018 by PastorDave

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I still remember that time in my life when I so powerfully learned this lesson. It was early 70s, and my younger brother was in the Air Force and stationed in Thailand.

He was going through some severe life trials during that time, and being in Thailand, he was being confronted by numerous strong temptations.

He was, at that time, still a relatively new believer. He had grown up in the same family we had all been reared in, but only recently had repented of his sins and personally believed and trusted in Jesus Christ.

I have vivid memories of picturing him way over there in Thailand – literally half-way around the world. And, there were no simple, easy ways to correspond with him. Of course, back then, we had no Skype, no Facetime, no email, no texting – and it was next to impossible to even place a long-distance phone call with any hopes of connecting with him.

So, he was way over there, and I was here. My heart broke for him, and in my prayers to God, I really reached out to him – and for him.  But, even when I prayed, I still had nagging doubts whether I was helping him as much as I really wanted to – whether I was being any real benefit, doing any real good.

Then, God convicted me about what praying really is.

Did I want to be there where he was? Yes, I did, in the strongest way.

“Well,” the Father in Heaven said to me, “I AM THERE!”

Did I want to touch him in some helping, healing way? Yes, I did, with all my being.

“Well,” the Father said, “Don’t you believe that I can do what you ask Me to do? I CAN DO WHAT YOU COULDN’T DO EVEN IF YOU WERE THERE!”

It was in that context that God struck me with why we pray, to begin with – and the efficacy of our prayers to The God Who is there – and who can do what we want Him to do, what needs to be done, and what we can’t do!

“Yes, Father – I do believe! I can’t be there – but YOU ARE! I will ask You to do what I want to do – and can’t! I can’t really even do what I would like to do. I would like to touch his heart, where it hurts. I would like to administer healing – but really, I can’t do any of those things. BUT YOU CAN!”

I constructed these images in my mind of beams being sent up to a communications satellite, and then sent back down to earth where they had been directed – even like a conversation or message that can be sent anywhere on the face of the earth.  

 COORDINATES

You know that every specific location on earth has “coordinates” so that any spot can be targeted. That’s how our GPS devices work – they can identify and locate any spot on the earth and lead us to it. There are Global Positioning Satellites that can target in on any spot on the face of our planet. GOD CAN DO THAT, TOO! That’s what we are doing when we pray: we are asking God in His Omnipresence and Omniscience to BE WHERE I CAN’T BE! God’s Presence and knowledge is everywhere.

And – not only does God know and have access to the “coordinates” of every human being, but God also has access to and sovereignty over the “coordinates” to every human being’s conscience and heart!

  • Read Psalm 139, where the Psalmist confesses that God knows when we stand up, sit down, and even every word we say before we say it!
  • Read 2 Chronicles 6.30, where Solomon stands in awe of God’s knowledge of our hearts: “…since You know each heart, for You alone know the human heart!”
  • Read Hebrews 4.12: “For the Word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.”

Do you see that? God KNOWS not only our physical whereabouts…and is THERE – but He also has authority and access to get into every human being’s heart and change whatever He wills to change.

God can change our circumstances and whatever is going on in our “outside” world just by willing it DONE – and He can also change our thoughts, our ways of thinking, our values, and our hearts! God can take away the heart of rebellion, darkness, and unbelief – and give instead a living heart of sweet surrender, the Light of Life, and the faith to believe!

“ONLY SAY THE WORD!”

I go back so often to that striking request made to Jesus by the Gentile Roman centurion for his beloved servant.

“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” ~ Matthew 8.6-8 [emphasis added]

Jesus was not physically there [in His incarnate human body], where the centurion’s servant was – but HE WAS THERE BY THE POWER OF HIS OWN WORD! So, Jesus sent His Word – and it was done!

And, Jesus did what the poor impotent centurion could not do – just like He DOES for us what our poor, impotent human abilities can’t do!

That is what we are doing when we pray to our Sovereign God – we are calling on Him to “only say the word” and it will be done!

That is what prayer does – and that is why we pray. So, let’s quit saying, “Well, the least I can do is pray for you.” NO – the best you can do is PRAY TO THE GOD WHO CAN!

WE PRAY BECAUSE…

GOD IS WHERE WE CAN’T BE & GOD DOES WHAT WE CAN’T DO!

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