April 7-8, 2017
Zeph. 3:17
The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
NIV
Worship: Song of My Father by Urban Rescue
When silence falls
I hear You call
In a secret place
You still my soul with quiet joy
And I'm wide awake
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
You spoke the earth with just one word
And You hold my heart
My every step, my every breath
Is Your work of art
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
I hear You call
In a secret place
You still my soul with quiet joy
And I'm wide awake
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
You spoke the earth with just one word
And You hold my heart
My every step, my every breath
Is Your work of art
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
I hear Your melody
I hear Your symphony
There's nothing louder than the song of my Father
I hear Your melody
I hear Your symphony
There's nothing louder than the song of my Father
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
In the middle of the night
I look up to the sky
I can hear You
Singing over me
Through the fire and the flood
I know that I am loved
I can hear You
Singing over me
I hear Your melody
I hear Your symphony
There's nothing louder than the song of my Father
I hear Your melody
I hear Your symphony
There's nothing louder than the song of my Father
There's nothing louder than the song of my Father
Video: https://youtu.be/m8dYLZVjwhA
Ps. 40:3
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.
NIV
Don’t ever let the music stop.
That new song You put in my heart.
The melody from heaven ever drop
Into my spirit and never depart.
And let my praises rise up to You
As gladness and joy fill my soul
Whether in abundance or few
Let my words Your name extol
Witness:
I was taught a lesson two days ago. As I have said recently, “satan’s temptations are God’s testings.” One thing God is doing when He tests us is to teach us. The Lord reminded me of this truth found in Scripture (the verse of which came only to mind now though it’s truth was displayed before me yesterday),
So, if you think you are standing firm,
be careful that you don't fall!
1 Cor 10:12-13 NIV
One of the great temptations I have at work is all the delicious artery clogging food at work. I spoke about this in another journal entry. I wrote then how God delivered me from this temptation on one day in the past (I have slipped many times since ☹ - it’s a daily battle). I found victory two days ago and resisted eating anything more than what I had brought with me. When I drove home, I rejoiced in this victory and thanked God for it. However, the devil is crafty and has taught his minions well. So, when I got home under the euphoria of victory the enemy was busy preparing another temptation in order to trip me up in my rising pride and smugness (which he played off of).
Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
Prov 16:18
NIV
After I had finished praying, I went into my bedroom with the intention to go to sleep in a timely fashion. However, when I sat down at my desk to start the background rain and thunder sound on my computer to help me go to sleep, I decided to open my emails and clear them out because I had not done that for a couple of days. Of course, a news alert would pop up while I was doing this and I had to read that as well and all the interesting news articles that were on the same page. Back to the emails. As I cleared them out, of course, I had to read some of them along the way. Then there were the Facebook posts. By the time I was finished, it was after 10 am. That was 2 hours after I planned to get to bed. It then hit me. While I had victory over the food temptation, the enemy defeated me in the computer temptation. The urge to read my emails, the news, and Facebook posts.
Lesson learned: When I experience a victory… Watch out for the ambush from behind.
Lesson learned: Prone to Pride? Watch out! You become prey to the predator.
Earlier in my studies, I pointed out that David began his prayer by mentioning his internal walk with the Lord. Verses 4 -7 deal mainly some aspects of his external walk. These external elements are evidence David sees of his innocence before his accusers.
As I have pointed out previously, David first speaks about what he abstains from. This is seen in the words such as “I do not” (v. 4), “nor do I” (v. 4), “I will not” (v. 5). In verses 6-7 he speaks positively about things he does do. Religion that is only negative in character is certainly a dark and dismal religion. It is characterized by loneliness and seclusion. It can lead to a legalistic lifestyle and judgmental attitude towards others. But David’s religion is also characterized by the positive. We see this in his use of these words in verse 6-7. He says, “I wash” (v. 6), “go about” (v. 6), “proclaiming” (v. 7), “telling” (v. 8). David worships and witnesses as well. These verses, of course, do not encompass all the aspects of a believer’s walk nor do they illustrate every aspect of true religion. James says,
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27 NIV
“Religion” is not a popular word today. It’s used by believers and unbelievers alike as an insult or description of a legalistic character flaw. Certainly, in some contexts, this is true. However, though the New Testament uses this word sparingly, here in James, it is used three times in a positive sense as those actions (both positive and negative as we have seen in the present passages we are studying) which exemplify a follower of Christ.
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