Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Be Strong!

Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power. Ephesians 6:10

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We must learn to trust God completely, because He knows and understands all that will happen to us. He has promised to be our refuge and we are not to be afraid, no matter the circumstances or those involved. As we grow in faith and trust in Him we are often challenged to the very depths of our spirit, and are called to stand firm in that faith and trust. Be strengthened by the Lord. The above scripture tells us to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." Being strengthened by the Lord is much simpler than being strong. We all know how to be strengthened by the Lord; we are strengthened through the Means of Grace through faith. When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, we are strengthened and putting on the whole armor of God. Putting on the armor of God is the same as being clothed with Christ. It is not something that we do after being saved; it is part of being saved. Not only are we clothed with Christ's purity, but we are surrounded and protected by his strength as well. When we become adopted sons of God we are clothed with the Christ's righteousness and protected by Christ's Strength.

Christ has won the victory through His death and resurrection. He has overcome the world. When we trust in the Lord and in His mighty power, we believe in this work of redemption. We are powerful in that we are in Christ by faith. As we look to Him, we cannot fall for He is "able to keep us from falling. Being strong in the Lord means to allow God to be the power in your life. It is not to "get" God's power and use it for yourself. We are not to be the one using God's power. It is God who is the power and only He can use it wisely, justly and victoriously.

We are faced with a series of battles in this life. To be victorious, one must be strong. Victory is for the strong. Today is not a day for weakness. Our God lives! Go deep inside yourself to find your greatest strength (The Holy Spirit inside you). But, what does that mean to be strong in the Lord? Many times we fall because we really haven't learned that to be strong means to be aware of how weak we are. We are only strong through Christ. We cannot face our battles alone for that the battles that are fought are battles that we in ourselves cannot fight, but rather, by clinging to the Word of God, and resting in Him, we know that the battle is already won on Calvary some 2000 years ago. His Word has so many promises, and we know God will never break a promise. He is the Promise Keeper.

Praise the Lord!

Loving God................

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

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Follow your Heart & believe in yourself” is common advice but the Bible tells us that the heart cannot be trusted "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). We hear it so often that we assume that it is sound biblical advice but the Word of God urges us to believe otherwise (He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, Proverb 28:26 and “And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me" (Jeremiah 16:12). Following the heart can work to rob us of God's grace and send us blindly down the road that leads to spiritual death.

Believe in oneself is the beginning of disaster. It is dangerous to lean on our own LIMITED ability and it is even more so to be away (OUTSIDE HIS WILL)from God. The Bible calls us to believe in the Omnipotence of God, but can we believe the Bible promises? If you are a believer in Christ, God has everything working for you, and sometimes life challenges may tempt us to believe otherwise but just when we think it is over then “wow” you are lifted up and taken higher. God is faithful and just because we can’t see Him does not change the fact that He is working for us, ordering our steps and making ways to lead us to the next step that will take us to our destination. The Bible gives us countless examples of people who believe in God, and not once was either one of them deceived. Many have tried to separate God's people from Him in many different ways possible but they never succeed because He says, "I will be with him in trouble" (Psalm 9:9, And He was. Men have left their country to follow God (Abraham for example). Some were thrown in the fire (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego). Others were thrown to the lions (Daniel) but God has brought them out successfully through it all. "Our anchor holds." Glory!

Can you believe? God is the same yesterday, today and forever (For I the Lord, I change not, Malachi 3:6). Every believer has the right to claim this promise and live with confidence that God will keep His Word as He always does. (Salvation through Christ carries a lot of weight and privileges. My friend, hang in there with the assurance that whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you have done, God sees you and cares for you. He is able and willing to pull you through whether fulfilled today or in the next few years, there is nothing but success and victory waiting for those who place their trust in the Lord. When the challenges come, as they often do, and you see absolutely no way out, think miracle, think God’s Omnipotence, think God’s promises, and think God's victory. He has a good track record, you can trust Him. He will not leave you. He loves you so much that He can’t help but saving you. Put your trust in Him. You can and you should believe in God's ability to save both in times of great blessing and adversity. Your future is secured. He doesn't make mistakes. He is working it out, just wait and you will see His glory.

You can believe that God’s Plan for your Life (is a good one) in the midst of adversity.

Praise the Lord!

Mighty God!

"These are only glimpses of what he does. We only hear a whisper of him! Who can understand the thunder of his power?" Job 26:14

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God is the great (only) source and Originator of all power. The power of God is His ability to bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the purity of His will may resolve. God's power is like Himself, eternal, incomprehensible and magnificent; it cannot be restrained, nor corrected. Meaning that God's power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. God cannot be manipulated. We cannot force Him into doing what we want. He does whatever pleases Him, according to His timing and purpose.

The election season was quite interesting to me. It doesn't have anything to do with the pursuit of love and justice for all, my friend, who alone has the power to reconcile the world unto Himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Cor. 5:19)? Who alone has the power to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26)? Who alone has the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:7)? Who alone has the power to reckon an ungodly man righteous apart from works (Rom. 4:5)? And, who alone has the power to raise the dead to new life and then seat them in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:5-6)? We have all these spiritual blessings and more through the selfless and unfathomable power of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to see some real power? Then look upon the cross of Jesus Christ. Don't look forward in anticipation of something God is going to do. First and foremost, look back at what He has done. The testimony of the cross is the power of God. Here is where all the power you will ever need to smell, taste, touch, hear, or see can be found anytime through faith. In it, the gospel itself, there is supernatural power that is personified in Jesus Christ

Let us begin this New Year by leaning on the One who really has power. The One who demonstrated His power by dying on the cross for your sins, resurrected and ascended to heaven where He's making room for you, and soon, real soon, He will return to take you with Him, and you will experience His power, His joy and His love for all eternity. Christ is the gospel, both the subject and the substance of it and the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16) and one day, all mankind will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

Make a point to praise God daily and be blessed.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Does God Care?

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Psalm 37:23

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You are here for a purpose. if you are a believer, God wants you where you are right now for His purpose. Things may no be going the way you would like them to go but you must trust God and scripture took it a little further: We are told to delight and accept our position. You and I have to delight/enjoy our position. We may not understand why we are here and for how long God is going to keeps us here but we must still trust that when the time is right, He will reveal the plan. As a matter of fact, it does not even have to make sense why we are here. Faith in God is exactly what must keep us in position. Rest become easy once we understand that we belong to God and that our steps are ordered. We no longer murmur and complain about our situations. We know that all things work together for our good.

So to have our steps ordered by the Lord means that the Lord is the one directing us, guiding us and leading us. But in order for the Lord to direct our steps, there are some things we ought to do. First of all, we must have faith. The Bible says in Romans 1:17 "the just shall live by faith." and Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” Also,I Thessalonians 5:17 says "men should always pray and not faint." Perhaps, one of the most important reasons to pray is the fact that God says it.In Jeremiah 33:3, the LORD says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

Friends, if you are a believer and find yourself in a place of great challenges, don't you worry. God is with you. He will guide you safely out of the wilderness. Trust Him and you will see His glory. He loves you. He cares.

Praise the Lord!