I wish you Jesus!

Following on the theme of Jesus being our only source….

….and before I tackle the rest of Psalm 118:22-24, talking about Jesus as our chief cornerstone…

….and as I still want to study the subject a bit more first…

… today, I’ll just leave you these wishes from a song:

I could wish you joy and peace
To last a whole life long,
I could wish you sunshine,
Or a cheerful little song,
Or wish you all the happiness
That this life could bring,
But I wish you Jesus,
But I wish you Jesus,
But I wish you Jesus,
More than anything.

I could wish you leaves of gold,
And may your path be smooth,
I could wish you treasures,
Or that all your dreams come true,
And I could wish you paradise
And ev’ry day be spring,
But I wish you Jesus,
But I wish you Jesus,
But I wish you Jesus,
Cause when I wish you Jesus
I’ve wished you ev’rything.

by Scott Wesley Brown

After I first heard those words some twenty years ago, I sent them in a letter to this young man I had met and… guess what?….

….. I married him before the end of the year!! We’ve been happily married ever since.

So, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you….

…. wishing someone Jesus, could do wonders!!

Rejecting the Rock

“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118:22, Amp.)

Rejection! We’ve all felt it at some stage, and it can leave terrible emotional scars. But we can find comfort in the fact that our Saviour went through even more.

“WHO HAS believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed?
“For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
“He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.” (Isaiah 53:1-3, Amp)

We can think that it is terrible how the Jews, at that time, rejected their Messiah, and because of this God rejected them. And we think, “Well, of course they deserved it.”

But today, WE can be just as guilty! We can reject our ROCK! But you may say, “We are Christians, we bear Christ’s name. How can we possibly reject Him?”

Well, in the name of Christianity, we build magnificent structures, we establish fantastic programs, we present wonderful music and have the best worship teams, we have seminars about how to build our church…. but…..

…. we forget one thing!! Or should I say, we forget THE One and only One!

We say we’re doing this for God, but have we got our direction from Him? Do we build and then ask God to bless our structure? But how can He when we have forgotten the most important thing, the Chief Cornerstone? Anything that is not built on the Rock, Christ Jesus, is bound to crumble and fall.

And in the process of all this building, those who are really founded on the Rock, are also rejected. Their ideas and thoughts are not listened to. Their message is rejected, just as Christ’s message was. Those in leadership (like the priests in the Old Testament) do not want to hear. They reject the godly knowledge and deprive their people.

Just as it says in Proverbs:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6, Amp)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7, NKJ)

And where do we find that godly knowledge? In the BIBLE!!! When we reject the written Word of God, when we run with our own plans instead, we also reject Him who IS “the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14, NKJ)

And, YES!! He, the One rejected, has become our Chief Cornerstone! Oh, may we build on Him!

Open the gates!!

“Open to me the [temple] gates of righteousness; I will enter through them, and I will confess and praise the Lord.
“This is the gate of the Lord; the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall enter through it.
“I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; and You have become my Salvation and Deliverer.” (Psalm 118:19-21, Amp)

How can we be in right standing with God and come fearlessly into His presence? Through the gates of righteousness!!… and they have to be opened for us, so that we can walk in.

Well then, what are the gates of righteousness? I think Jesus made it clear when He said:

“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:9-10, NLT)

I shared this verse the other day, but in the sense going out through the gate into a spacious place of abundance. But before we can go out, and experience God’s abundance, we must first come in to His presence… to a place of security … to a place of assurance … to a place of protection… to a place of comfort…. to a place where we stand with confidence before God, free of guilt, knowing that He loves us.

The good news is, that JESUS has done that for us. He has opened for us access to the Father’s presence. He is our gate called righteousness…. right standing with God.

“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26, NLT)

The very moment He died, this access was made open. There was a curtain in the temple that separated the most holy place (representing the very presence of God). Only the High Priest could enter into it, and then, only once a year. He would go in and make the necessary sacrifice for the sins of the people, and make atonement (making them “at one” with God) for them. But when Jesus died, His death did this for us once and for all, so that now we can have free access to the Father’s presence.

The gate is open!! All we need to do with walk through, and we do that by believing in Jesus.

Here’s some more passages that talk about that:

“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrew 4:14-16, NLT)

“We who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:18b-20, NLT)

Jesus IS our gate!! So we can rejoice and sing with the Psalmist:

“I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.” (v21, NKJ)

I shall not die… but LIVE!!

“I shall not die but live, and shall declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death.^{” (Psalm 118:17-18, Amp.)}

From this passage, we see that David had been through a pretty rugged time, to the point of death. This reminds me of something that the Apostle Paul said:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” (Philippians 1:21-24, ESV)

He wrote this letter from a Roman jail under extremely harsh conditions. Judgment was imminent and there was a real possibility of death. And as he reiterates again in his second letter to the Corinthians:

“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
“Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
“But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, ‘I believed in God, so I spoke.’ We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthian 4:6-18, NLT)

So, as I write this, there are possibly many of you who have faced death, maybe through sickness or maybe from an accident, but for some reason, God has restored you to life here, instead of taking you to be with Him. (And I do praise God for that.)

But why? Why did He allow you to live, yet others in a similar situation, He has taken to Himself? Well, I believe in both cases, it was for His glory. In some, it comes through their death, and in others it comes through their life, and the second chance God has given them. If that is you, it’s all because God hasn’t finished with you here yet… He still has a mission for you to do. And that is….

…. to “DECLARE THE WORKS OF THE LORD!!!”

God has done a mighty thing in you, and He wants you to tell it. You are His “show and tell” of His marvellous works! You are a walking miracle!!! God WILL get the glory!!

What a mighty God we serve!!!!

To the Servicmen who lay their lives on the line!

I received an email today, from an American serviceman, who was disturbed about poor treatment they were receiving over the Iraq situation… how “so many are giving us the ‘thumbs down’ even in our own country.”

Here is my response:

Thanks for that wonderful email!

Sorry to hear about the hard time you’re getting over Iraq.  Whether the war in Iraq is right or wrong, no one can blame the troops for it.  You guys are just following orders… and have committed yourselves to the welfare and safety of your country, as well as other countries who are in trouble.  I admire the courage to help the underdog… those who are being oppressed.

And isn’t that what God has told us to do…. to help those who are oppressed?

But hey, aren’t people so fickle?  A few years ago, you would have been their heroes for fighting the terrorists, and when things don’t go as they think they should, you’re given the “thumbs down”.  But they don’t lift a finger to help the situation!!

Personally, I admire you for your courage, being willing to lay your life on the line for the freedom of your country, and the rest of the world.

Good on ya, mate!!

And I say, thank God for the Americans…. thank God for the Brits…. and thank God for the Aussies!!!  And I do pray for a solution to the Iraq situation.

Bless ya!

Joy in our tents!

“The Lord is my Strength and Song; and He has become my Salvation.
“The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents and private dwellings of the [uncompromisingly] righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!
“The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!” (Psalm 118:14-16, Amp.)

What a mighty God we have!!

He uses His right hand to fight for us!…. which makes me think, Who is on the Father’s right hand?…..

…..JESUS!!

He, the Son, is the Father’s “Right Hand Man”. He is the One who has brought us the victory through His death and resurrection.

So in our tents… and our bodies are referred to as tents (2 Cor 5:1- …. our hearts rejoice!! As Jesus said before he died:

“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

22 “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. 23 At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. 24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” (John 14:20-24, NLT)

And we can celebrate the victory won….

“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.” (2 Corinthian 2:14, NLT)

“You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-15, NLT)

So…….

………. REJOICE!!!!!!

Someone else’s armour won’t do!

“It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”  (Psalm 118:8-9, Amp.)

I know I shared these verses the other day, and that verse 8 is the middle verse in the Bible, but this morning, after mentioning about giants yesterday, my thoughts went back to David and Goliath.  (Read the whole story in 1 Samuel 17.)

Here’s the thoughts that struck me!  Look what happened just before David went out to fight Goliath:

38 “Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:38-40, ESV)

As David couldn’t go in Saul’s armour, because he hadn’t tested them, so we can’t fight our giants with someone else’s methods or anointing.  If we put our confidence in man’s methods, we will walk away defeated.

So let me say again:

“It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”

Then we can bravely face our giants as David did and say:

“I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”  (1 Samuel 17:45, ESV)

The Lord is on my side!

“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
“The Lord is on my side and takes my part, He is among those who help me; therefore shall I see my desire established upon those who hate me.” (Psalm 118:6-7, Amp.)

“So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, ‘The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6, Amp.)

WOW!! What a thought as we go out to face our Goliaths!! We go in the name of the Lord God, who made heaven and earth.

We can STAND, because our God stands and is never defeated!

More space than we can fill!!

“Out of my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free and in a large place.” (Psalm 118:5, Amp)

Again, praise God, “He has become my Salvation.” (v.14)

The Hebrew verb, “yasha” (to save), means “to be open, wide or free.” Even though that is not the word used in verse 5, the idea is there. The word used here is from the Hebrew word “rachab”, meaning “to be or grow wide or large”.

Some may say, “Hey, I’m wide enough…. I don’t need to grow larger!!” Well, our space can be large, but we don’t need to fill it up. If we do, we become crammed and only need yet more space.

I see being free is having more space than we can fill. It reminds me of this:

“But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.” (Malachi 4:2, Amp)

And as Jesus said:

“I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” (John 10:9-10, Amp.)

“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36, NKJ)

For He is GOOD!!

Now, back to where I was! Funny how the Lord takes you on little detours!!

I had set my mind to study Psalm 118 last week, but the Lord had other ideas. And aren’t His ideas always better? Anyhow, now this week, God willing, I will continue in this Psalm.

1 “O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
2 Let Israel now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron [the priesthood] now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
4 Let those now who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.” (Amp)

And as it says in Psalm 34…

8 “O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.
9 O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear.
10 The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.”

And why is God good? Why does He lavish His love on us when we are so undeserving? In Romans 2:4, Paul talks to the religious people and says, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

So God shows His goodness and kindness to touch our hearts, and in the light of His awesome goodness, we see how rotten inside we are, and then we turn our lives over to Him, realising that life with Him is far better than the lousy life we’ve tried to lead.

So my prayer is, “Lord, show Your goodness to your people and to those who don’t know you yet, so that they will see and turn to you with grateful hearts. May they sing, ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.’“