“A NEW SONG!”

 Psalm 96:1-2                    (ESV)

Worship in the Splendor of HOLINESS 

    “[1] Oh sing to the LORD “A NEW SONG”;

        sing to the LORD, all the earth! 

    [2] Sing to the LORD, bless HIS name;

        tell of HIIS salvation from day to day.”

Watching videos on a social media platform is one of my biggest distractions in life.  Recently there was a “country music” entertainer who was talking about how he was put in a questionable situation at a huge public event.  He knew right away that he was in a “testing situation” and thank THE LORD he responded with BIBLICAL guidance.  

This started SPEAKING to my heart and caused me to PAUSE until the RIGHT WORDS came into my brain damaged mind.  How often would I laugh at a “off color joke” in my circle to fit in and NOT be “set apart”?  If I TRULY desire to be different from “this world”, shouldn’t I be someone who others would be uncomfortable saying anything that offends my SAVIOR???  JESUS gave HIS LIFE for me AND CALLED me to be HIS servant, and I need to be willing to endure a little distress for HIS SACRIFICE!!!

The BLOOD of JESUS gives HIS BELIEVERS “A NEW SONG” that needs to be forever in my lungs and on my lips!!!  Like the country music man on social media, I must be searching for any opportunity to share “A NEW SONG” with every opportunity that is presented to me!!!

“I WILL HOPE IN HIM!”

 Lamentations 3:22-24                (ESV)

    “[22] The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

        HIS mercies NEVER come to an end; 

    [23] they are new every morning;

        great is YOUR faithfulness. 

    [24] “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

        therefore “I WILL HOPE IN HIM”.”

Most every morning I attempt to to find a verse of Scripture that I can write about.  This selection causes me to have ponder these verses as I progress through the day THAT THE LORD HAS BLESSED ME WITH!!!

Not having a college degree has already been something that “the enemy” has used to make me feel “inferior”, or less than those who have been BLESSED with more education. At the time, I felt like I had to earn a salary more than I needed more schooling.  So my efforts were placed on making a paycheck instead of making a reputation and GOD BLESSED me with the ONLY thing that mattered, WHAT HE THOUGHT OF ME!!!

THE CREATOR and SUSTAINER of LIFE is the ONE WHO determines what we will need to succeed in life.  HE KNEW that I would have a “massive brain hemorrhage” in 2007 and would need to be placed into a coma for seventeen days!  HE knew that my doctor would write in my medical records “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a miracle from GOD"!!!  

My preference for today forward shall be to be remembered for what GOD has done FOR ME more than anything that I could accomplish in my own!!  “I WILL HOPE IN HIM” for my EVERYTHING and let HIM continue to AUTHOR HIS finish for my time on earth!!!

“GRACE AND PEACE!”

 2 Peter 1:1-2                    (ESV)

Greeting

“[1] Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of JESUS CHRIST, 

To those who have obtained a faith of EQUAL STANDING with ours by the righteousness of our GOD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST:

[2] May “GRACE AND PEACE” be multiplied to you in the knowledge of GOD and of JESUS our LORD.”

At odd times my mind is almost captured by something I hear or see and I can’t get past the life lesson that THE LORD is teaching me.  In a recently viewed video a pastor says that “GRACE AND PEACE” are ALWAYS listed in Scripture with GRACE listed in front of PEACE!  

As I was “growing up”, I was taught that an acronym for GRACE was GODS RICHES AT CHRISTS EXPENSE.  Then I SEE that I was CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (Ephesians 1:4) and the realization that I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH my salvation means precisely what I said…..NOTHING MEANS NO-THING!!!  CHRIST CHOSE me before I was ever conceived.  I had NO-THING to do with it!!

CHRIST (GOD IN FLESH) knew that I would need a PERFECT SACRIFICE, so HE GAVE HIMSELF for me in the most brutal death possible because I was a bottom of the barrel!  HIS GRACE was provided to give me HIS PEACE, which can only be achieved through HIS PLAN!!

HIS “GRACE AND PEACE” are NOT written haphazardly in Scripture!  “GRACE AND PEACE” are mandated by GOD because I would have failed miserably had I been included in HIS PLAN.  “GRACE AND PEACE” is something far beyond what humanity could EVER have imagined!!  “GRACE AND PEACE” TRULY was GODS RICHES AT CHRISTS EXPENSE!!!

“Psalms 143:8”

 Psalm 143:8                    (ESV)

    “Let me hear in the morning of YOUR steadfast love,

        for in YOU  I trust.

    Make me know the way I should go,

        for to YOU I lift up my soul.”

“I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!”

 Isaiah 60:22                    (ESV)

    “[22] The least one shall become a clan,

        and the smallest one a mighty nation;

    I am the LORD;

        in its time I will hasten it.”

DELIVER ME, O GOD, FROM EVIL MEN!”

 Psalm 140:1-5                    (ESV)

Deliver Me, O LORD, from Evil Men

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    [1] “DELIVER ME, O LORD, FROM EVIL MEN”;

        preserve me from violent men, 

    [2] who plan evil things in their heart

        and stir up wars continually. 

    [3] They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,

        and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah

    [4] Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;

        preserve me from violent men,

        who have planned to trip up my feet. 

    [5] The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,

        and with cords they have spread a net;

        beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah”

Although I am 6’6” tall and my personalized license plate says BIG RAY, I have always considered myself to be a “gentle giant”!  Never did I think of my size as a BLESSING, rather it was almost a curse when my mom was still buying my shoes because they didn’t last very long, at all!!!

Turning 65 years old in a few months and recalling the journey I have been assigned, I am far beyond trying to please anyone, let alone “the enemy”!  I can, however, understand King David’s mindset when he wrote “DELIVER ME, O LORD, FROM EVIL MEN”!  Formerly it possibly would have been because I didn’t want to be in conflict with anyone, but lately it is because don’t want to cause shame and disgrace to be brought upon my LORD!

Even though I am CHOSEN BY MY CREATOR, I still have to guard against “the enemy” and his evil temptations.  I AM IMPERFECT and certainly replete with sin, but I pray that GOD will “DELIVER ME, O GOD, FROM EVIL MEN” and allow me to live in YOUR GRACE!!!

“YOU HAVE SEARCHED ME!”

 Psalm 139:1-6                    (ESV)

Search Me, O GOD, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    “[1] O LORD, “YOU HAVE SEARCHED ME” and known me! 

    [2] YOU know when I sit down and when I rise up;

        YOU discern my thoughts from afar. 

    [3] YOU search out my path and my lying down

        and are acquainted with all my ways. 

    [4] EVEN BEFORE A WORD IS ON MY TONGUE,

        behold, O LORD, YOU KNOW IT ALTOGETHER.

    [5] YOU hem me in, behind and before,

        and WAY YOUR HAND upon me. 

    [6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

        it is high; I cannot attain it.”

King David was imperfect, but he was “a man after GOD’S OWN HEART” (1 Samuel 13:14)!!  When writing this Psalm, David writes “O LORD, “YOU HAVE SEARCHED ME” and known me”!  Yet near the end of this Psalm he  would write “Search me, O GOD, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts”! WHY would a person begin a Psalm with a statement showing that GOD ALMIGHTY had ALREADY been where HE was needed, LONG BEFORE HIS child actually recognized the need of HIM???

King David began his life as a shepherd, quietly spending an inordinate amount of time away from the busyness of “this world”.  As he matured he may have “gotten so busy” that he elected to NOT HEAR from his CREATOR, the RULER OF THE UNIVERSE!  

GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN and FOREVER WILL BE!!!  Whether I “take time” to acknowledge HIM or not, HE WILL ALWAYS BE THE SAME!  I am NOT a man began my life walking closely with the ONE WHO CREATED me, but HE was ALWAYS. been there for me!  HE just had to SLOW ME DOWN and OPEN MY EYES to SEE HIM!!

GOD has HIS WAYS!  HE has the ability to operate FAR more quickly than humanity has the ability to comprehend.  And from experience, HE ALSO has the ability to SLOW THINGS DOWN (Psalms 46:10)!!!  “YOU HAVE SEARCHED ME” doesn’t indicate that we have ANYTHING to do with the SEARCHING!  GOD might be CREATING HIS MASTERPIECE……..and HE just needs us to BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD???

“THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY!”

 Psalm 139:11-12                      (ESV)

    “[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

        and the light about me be night,” 

    [12] even the darkness is not dark to YOU;

        “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”,

        for darkness is as LIGHT with YOU.”

Even though I have been a BELIEVER since 1978, I still am not as strong a CHRISTIAN as I should be.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never had anyone murdered or slept with another man’s wife as the author of this Psalm, but I have never been called “a man after GOD’s OWN heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) by the Holy Spirit either!!!

With ALMIGHTY GOD in CONTROL, there is a calm assurance that “EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE”!!  My wife told those caring for me during the Brain Hemorrhage almost 18 years ago that and she was quietly “scoffed” at!!  And even though I AM CHANGED, I AM JUST FINE!!

Psalms 139:12 plainly says “even the darkness is not dark to YOU; “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”, for darkness is as LIGHT with YOU”! HE SEES our future in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT LIGHT than what humanity has the capability of seeing!  HE IS GOD, and we ARE NOT!  HE isn’t fazed by the trials and hardships that HE uses to mold us into HIS IMAGE. HE lovingly moves us through EVEN the darkest times and into HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT!!!

Don’t be swayed by a storm of darkness that may be in our future!  GOD is in control of EVERYTHING and HE can SEE that “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”!!!  Our FAITH needs to reflect that HE IS IN CONTROL……not us!!!

“SEARCH ME, O GOD!”

 Psalm 139:17-24                    (ESV)

    “[17] How precious to me are YOUR THOUGHTS, O GOD!

        How vast is the sum of them! 

    [18] If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

        I awake, and I am still with YOU .

    [19] Oh that YOU would slay the wicked, O GOD!

        O men of blood, depart from me! 

    [20] They speak against YOU with malicious intent;

        YOUR enemies take YOUR name in vain. 

    [21] Do I not hate those who hate YOU, O LORD?

        And do I not loathe those who rise up against YOU? 

    [22] I hate them with complete hatred;

        I count them my enemies.

    [23] “SEARCH ME, O GOD”, and know my heart!

        Try me and know my thoughts! 

    [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me,

        and lead me in the way everlasting!”

There are times when “the enemy” tries to infiltrate my mind with something that is anything but THE TRUTH to get me “off track” from what GOD has PLANNED for my life.  There is NOTHING that replace the JOY and PEACE that floods my soul when the THOUGHTS of GOD ALMIGHTY are flowing through my mind.  

But how can I rest assured that YOUR THOUGHTS aren’t being replaced by my own dreams and desires??

“SEARCH ME, O GOD”, not only to know my heart, but to make certain that I am becoming precisely what YOU want me to be!!  It is my desire NOT to be successful and make a lot of money, but to be a minister of what YOU permit me oversee for YOUR GLORY!  

“SEARCH ME, O GOD” and do with me whatever YOU NEED so that I can bring HONOR and GLORY to YOUR NAME and fulfill YOUR PLAN for my life!!!

“THE WORD!”

 John 1:1; 14                    (ESV)

“THE WORD” Became Flesh

“[1] In the beginning was “THE WORD”, and “THE WORD” was with GOD, and “THE WORD” WAS GOD.”

“[14] And “THE WORD” became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen HIS glory, glory as of THE ONLY SON from the FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.”

This morning I will keep my thoughts very brief!  How many times have I read over John 1:1 with seemingly no expectation of hearing “THE WORD”???  My heart apparently wasn’t prepared to receive that which GOD had for me???

The HOLY BIBLE is recognized as “THE WORD” by some people, but to have a TRUE understanding of “THE WORD”, GOD ALMIGHTY is required to OPEN OUR EYES….to REVEAL HIMSELF to us!  In Luke 24:45 a resurrected JESUS tells two CHOSEN men, “Then HE OPENED THEIR MINDS to understand the Scriptures,”. 

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE is the description that adequately states how TRULY GRATEFUL I am to have “THE WORD” revealed to me by “THE WORD” HIMSELF!!!!