Friday 6 July 2012

A Psalm of encouragement

Psalm 27: An Exuberant Declaration Of Faith

A Psalm of David

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.

Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lordwhen I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.

13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

14 Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Forgive

Forgiveness is so vitally important, for many things: our own mental health, our progression in life and ultimately in receiving forgiveness of our sins from God. For many many years in the past I have prayed the Lord's prayer and said those words - 'forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us', without full knowledge or realisation that I have not forgiven. Of course God does not condemn us for something we did not know or did not hear and so I won't condemn myself but I just think to myself...if only I had knew then what I know now. I have been through a very rough journey so far in my lifetime and recently I had a situation which resurfaced some negative memories of the past, in relation to a frenemy of mine. Recalling my memories led the buried frustration and hurt to rise to the surface again, and I began to think through all those expeiences, the way I felt... I've realised that all this time I have been in the wrong mindset in that I have kept all these negative emotions inside of me and not just left my burdens at Jesus' feet:
- 'Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved' (Psalm 55:22)

Also, the next reason is that God commands us to fogive, no matter how terrible we feel about the situation or some personal issue. Many scriptures tell us that we should forgive one another and as Christians we need to be obedient to His words. one of which is:
- 'And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you' (Ephesians 4:32)
- 'For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments...' (1 John 5:3)

After all faith isn't even about feelings and God is no respecter of persons, so if we do not forgive it's not as if God is going to look at our circumstances and decide that in light of our situation, if it doesn't feel okay with us, we can get away with unforgiveness. In our efforts to live more Christlike, we will have to sacrifice the way we feel about some things and do what He would do in our situation. Also, God does not discipline us because he hates us or wants us to have some sort of miserable life. It's out of love that he disciplines us and instructs us, to protect us and to enable us to live abundant, kingdom lives. He knows what is best for us and He knows our futures and the result of our every action; He sees the bigger picture
- 'For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.' (Romans 8:18-19)

- '"Be angry, and do not sin" : do not let the sun go down on your wrath' Ephesians 4:26