“UNLESS THE LORD!”

Psalms 127:1                                             (ESV)

“”UNLESS THE LORD” builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. “UNLESS THE LORD” watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

The verse above was shared today by a friend.  With tomorrow being the anniversary of “9-11”, my mind was already in the mode of reflection.  When I saw this verse, I thought how appropriate to see this one day before recognizing the day that America was brought to its knees by people with no weapons, other than a few box cutters that can be bought at any hardware store.  

America was founded, regardless of what modern-day revisionists proclaim, depending on ALMIGHTY GOD to sustain us.  Where did we take the wrong path?  How did we start depending on our own abilities to protect and secure us rather than depending upon the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES???  

I’m not trying to lay the blame on anyone, but for the most part the general public has become ADDICTED to the television and what the one-eyed monster feeds us.  Whether conservative or liberal, whatever we feed will continue to grow and mature.  On September 12, 2001 an almost eerie silence was prevalent in the United States.  Even our elected representatives gathered for prayer on the steps of the capital.   Within a few days, however, we were back to blaming each other and fighting amongst ourselves, forgetting that “the enemy” was waging a war against us!  

Folks, “the enemy” is NOT conservatives, liberals, nor people who refuse to align with any political view.  “The enemy” is disguising himself and we are moving so fast that we don’t stop our “busyness” long enough to identify our own assailants!  And ALL of the actions are regrettably fulfilling Scripture!  

Many may tire of me preaching to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, but HE is our ONLY HOPE!  “UNLESS THE LORD” builds a house, the house (or nation) is built in vain!  My stage may not reach many, but I am CALLED to proclaim that “UNLESS THE LORD”! is HIGH AND LIFTED UP once again, HIS JUDGEMENT will come again!!!

“WHAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH!”

Matthew 15:10-20                                                         (ESV)

“10 And HE (JESUS ) called the people to HIM and said to them, "Hear and understand:

11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but “WHAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH”; this defiles a person."

12 Then the disciples came and said to HIM, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"

13 HE answered, "Every plant that my heavenly FATHER has NOT planted will be rooted up.

14 Let them (Pharisees) alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."

15 But Peter said to HIM, "Explain the parable to us."

16 And HE said, "Are you also still without understanding?

17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?

18 But “WHAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH” proceeds from the heart, and THIS defiles a person.

19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."”

The ministry of JESUS was built around rescuing the SOULS of people who couldn’t SPIRITUALLY SEE!  HE performed many miracles (actions outside of the natural), therefore people would take notice that HE was different from the “natural man”.  However, EVERY ONE of the people who the miraculous deeds were performed on eventually physically died. The condition of your SPIRIT is the thing that matters most!  

As I write this devotional, a post that I shared last night about gun control has received a tremendous response.  SPIRITUAL people need to be concerned about the SPIRITUAL needs of “this world”.  This is not to say that the physical needs should be ignored, but we MUST begin prioritizing our lives to prepare for LIFE after physical death visits us.  The miracles JESUS performed were very important to HIS mInistry.  Why else would HE have done them?   Getting the attention of people is one thing, but until we give them “manna” to change their lives we will never succeed in changing the world we live in!

“A tongue’s like a knife, the sharper it is the deeper it cuts!” was in a message shared  this morning from a friend.  Formerly, my tongue was extremely “sharp” AND “quick”!  GOD changed that in 2007, and it wasn’t as if it was my idea!  HE placed me in a three week COMA, and when I was brought out of it, my mentality (and ability to be so sharp tongued) was gone!  Why did HE remove what some people thought was a good thing?  Maybe because I was not focused enough on the SPIRITUAL and was too concerned with the physical???

The Pharisees were almost solely concerned with the physical side of life.  Conversely JESUS was almost solely concerned with the SPIRITUAL aspects of life!  We need to look more closely at the SPIRITUAL things that are springing up in our lives and stop letting “this world” convince us that our earthly needs are more important.  “WHAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH” needs to be LIFE, not life!  I pray that makes sense to some?!?!?

“THE PEACE OF GOD!”

Philippians 4:4-8 7                                                    (ESV)

“4 Rejoice in the LORD always; again I will say, rejoice.

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The LORD is at hand;

6 DO NOT BE ANXIOUS about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD.

7 And “THE PEACE OF GOD”, which SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, will GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR MINDS in CHRIST JESUS.”

The WORD saying DO NOT BE ANXIOUS about ANYTHING is something I have written about many times.  Remember, most of the time when I write, it is not a “sermon” intended for everyone else to adhere to, it is GOD speaking to me and HIM altering my life for HIS Glory.  HE has PLENTY to correct in my behavior before I can begin to start concerning myself with others.  For me, “THE PEACE OF GOD” wasn’t something that I was able to wish upon myself.  It was through a VALLEY that I had to experience that I was able to see that GOD really was in control and that I wasn’t!  

On April 08, 2017 I worked in my yard all day long.  Being on a strict diet, I wasn’t supposed to be doing anything physically demanding, but I “thought” that just riding the mower surely wouldn’t hurt anything?  Of course, when I finished my yard the neighbors yard needed to be mowed.  Then I saw a limb hanging from a tree and got my ladder and chainsaw out.  Cutting the limb down and hauling it the burn pile I begin to feel as though I had pulled a muscle in my upper chest.  A text to my doctor resulted in me getting the muscle pull “checked out”, which led to quadruple bypass surgery on April 11.  

Having heart surgery has always been a big fear of mine.  Many friends have have serious problems with their heart surgery and with my health history I didn’t want to have anyone inside of my chest!  However, when they said that I needed bypass surgery, it was if “THE PEACE OF GOD” enveloped me and my fears were completely diminished.  The cardiac surgeon said my small coronary arteries were bypassed with a donor artery from my leg and it was a LOT larger.  My blood flow should be less restricted.  

The Sunday School lesson (of which I was the teacher!) from the week before was on Genesis 50:20-21. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.  So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”  GOD prepared me for this excursion a week ahead, AND I HAD NO CLUE!  

Romans 8:28 says “And WE KNOW that for those who love GOD ALL THINGS work together for good, for those who are called according to HIS purpose.”  If I am called according to HIS purpose, then why should I fret over anything???  “THE PEACE OF GOD” is there for us, we just have to BELIEVE that HE IS WHO HE says HE is!!!

“WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED!”

Jeremiah 29:10-14                                                   (ESV)

“10 "For thus says the LORD: “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED” for Babylon, I WILL visit you, and I WILL fulfill to you MY promise and bring you back to this place.

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then YOU WILL call upon me and come and pray to me, and I WILL hear you.

13 YOU WILL seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

14 I WILL be found by you, declares the LORD, and I WILL RESTORE your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I WILL bring you back to the place from which I sent you INTO EXILE.”

The WORD OF GOD is precisely that, THE WORD GOD!  HE fulfills exactly what HE says HE will do, at exactly when HE says HE will do it!  In Jeremiah 29 the Israelites has been removed from the Promised Land because they were neglecting GOD’s instructions, which was to let the land “lay fallow” every seventh year.  They had done this for 490 years, so they has 70 years they “owed” GOD!  

Israel is GOD’s CHOSEN people, but that doesn’t mean that HIS CHILDREN get a free pass when obedience is in question.  Neither should we think that we get a free pass!  GOD says “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”, THEN will I visit you and fulfill MY promise to bring you back to the Promised Land.  Jeremiah warned the nation of Israel “Do not let YOUR prophets and YOUR diviners who are among you DECEIVE you, and DO NOT LISTEN to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in MY name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29:8-9). 

It is very easy to be deceived by the enemy and follow a dream that he places in our mind.  Satan will do anything to remove our focus from a HOLY GOD.  Israel ignored GOD’S WORD for a number of years, and when GOD collected what was due HIM, Israel wasn’t happy!  A lot of people want to take Jeremiah 29:11 out of context and say that GOD HAS A PLAN and HE promises us prosperity, but ALMIGHTY GOD states VERY PLAINLY in Jeremiah 29:10 that HE WILL visit Israel “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”!  Not after they had learned their lesson, or when HE had forgiven their disobedience, but “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”!

How long should I be sent INTO EXILE?  How long have I done what “I thought “ was best?  Romans 14:23b says “For whatever does not proceed from FAITH is sin”.  So when I have to SEE A WAY OUT, is that FAITH?  Or is walking carefully in darkness, making certain of my footing, TRUSTING IN HIM to place me feet where they need to be, is that FAITH that honors GOD?  

HEAVENLY FATHER, cause me to allow YOU to guide and direct my steps to be TOTALLY in accordance to YOUR PLAN for my life for the rest of my time in “this world”!  Cause me to not wait until “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”, but to TRUST in YOU even for my very next breath!!!

“LET NOT!”

John 14:25-27                                          (ESV)

“25 "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

26 But the HELPER, the HOLY SPIRIT, whom the FATHER will send in MY NAME, HE will teach you all things and BRING TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE ALL THAT I HAVE SAID to you.

27 Peace I leave with you; MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU. Not as the world gives do I give to you. LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED, NEITHER LET THEM BE AFRAID.”

The great deceiver is introduced to mankind in Genesis 3:1a, when Scripture says “Now the serpent (Satan) was more crafty (beguiling; deceitful) than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made.”  Part of his goal is to cause us to DOUBT and disobey what the LORD GOD has said to us (Genesis 3:1b).  Part of our responsibility as Children of GOD is to KNOW what GOD is saying to us, and we do that by continually allowing HIS WORD to guide and direct our lives through diligent study of HIS WORD (Joshua 1:8)!  We don’t have the capability of competing with the deceit of the enemy OUTSIDE OF THE TRUTH offered to us by JESUS!

The passage of Scripture above is one that has always brought comfort to me.  OUR CREATOR says that HIS FATHER WILL send us a HELPER, the HOLY SPIRIT, WHO WILL BRING TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE ALL THAT I HAVE SAID to you.  Please make note that JESUS didn’t promise that the HOLY SPIRIT would give us NEW revelations, but HIS promise was that the HOLY SPIRIT would BRING TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE ALL THAT I HAVE SAID!  HE cannot bring to our remembrance things that haven’t been entered into our memory banks!

If we are experiencing a valley and we are searching for answers, if our memory banks are empty due to neglect then we have set ourselves up for failure!  JESUS says in John 14:27 to “”LET NOT” YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED, NEITHER LET THEM BE AFRAID.”  My heart has been TROUBLED (many times) and I have been AFRAID, but mainly when I don’t have enough of HIS WORD in me to avoid the DOUBT sent by the enemy!  

Psalms 119:11 says “I have stored up your word in my heart, THAT I MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST YOU.”  Romans 14:23b says “...FOR WHATEVER DOES NOT PROCEED FROM FAITH IS SIN!”  This is a humbling statement, but when I sin against GOD, it indicates that evidently I DO NOT HAVE FAITH that GOD is GOD!  JESUS the CHRIST paid for ALL of our sins, past, present and future.  But we MUST confess that we are sinners before HIM to receive HIS forgiveness.  When HE said “LET NOT” your hearts be troubled, HE was saying ALL was going to be forgiven by HIS sacrifice.  Our debt has been paid, IF WE “LET NOT” the deceiver sell us his lies!  

“THE PLANS OF HIS HEART!”

Psalms 33:10-11                                                        (ESV)

“10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; HE FRUSTRATES THE PLANS OF THE PEOPLE’S. 

11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, “THE PLANS OF HIS HEART” to all generations.”

Have you noticed that the experiences that we are subjected to as an individual mold and make us into the person we become in life, EXCEPT FOR GOD’S INTERVENTION!  Recently I witnessed a friend who is approximately one year younger than I discussing their life.  As I reminisced about my life and my what I know about my friends life, VERY LITTLE seems equal nor similar.  I came out of pretty severe poverty in a single parent household.  My friend still has both of their parents living into their late 70’s.  Their parents have been married for almost 60 year, and by all appearances, love each other dearly!

Conversely, my parents were divorced when I was four years old.  My mother was awarded custody of my sisters and I and my father promptly (within the month) moved to Canada and abandoned us, never paying any child support.  I finally met my father the summer after I was married in 1984, twenty years later!  I was 6’6” tall and weighed 225 pounds.  My father was about 5’9” tall and weighed about the same as me.  He came to my uncles house after their sister, my aunt, called my father and told him that she was disowning him if he didn’t come to Houston and talk to me.  In my opinion, my father wasn’t really interested in seeing me, but he didn’t want to upset his sister, so he came to Houston from his house, which was about 45 minutes away.  His plan to avoid his offspring were changed by his sisters orders!

All of this story has been revealed to demonstrate that you can NEVER ASSUME that you understand what others have dealt with in their past.  Do I hold anyone to blame for my past?  In my younger years, DEFINITELY YES!  But GOD has revealed to me that my father’s influence in my life was neutralized by his lack of caring how I was being reared and that GOD had better PLANS for me than I could imagine.  Trusting in GOD proved to be the only way that I could SEE out of the lack of self-worth that I experienced during my childhood.  

When GOD has a PLAN, it isn’t by chance or circumstance that it WILL happen!  HE can cause a peasant to be a king, and HE can cause royalty to be a beggar!  When ALMIGHTY GOD has CHOSEN you for HIS PLAN, it makes no difference what others attempt to accomplish.  “THE PLANS OF HIS HEART” WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED!!!  But I’m not worthy to be used by the Creator of the universes for HIS Glory some may say?  Well, who is worthy?  When you are part of “THE PLANS OF HIS HEART” FOR ALL GENERATIONS, you just have to sit back and enjoy the scenery! 

“IN SIN!”

Psalms 51:5-10                                                                (ESV)

“5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and “IN SIN” did my mother conceive me. 

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and YOU teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that YOU  have broken rejoice. 

9 Hide YOUR face from my sins, and BLOT OUT ALL MY INIQUITIES. 

10 Create in me a clean heart, O GOD, and renew a right spirit within me.”

When GOD does a WORK in our lives, an indescribable TRANSFORMATION takes place, one that words cannot describe, especially for someone who struggles with word selection.  King David, a man after GOD’S OWN heart (1 Samuel 13:14), writes in the passage of Scripture above that he, like ALL of us, was conceived “IN SIN”!  In other words, even if he lived a perfect life and had never strayed from THE LAW, he would have not been worthy to call upon the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES to BLOT OUT ALL MY INIQUITIES.  

So many people state, when asked why they should allowed into Heaven, that they have been a good person and tried to do the right thing.  But King David KNEW that he was not worthy to even call upon the name of THE LORD.  He was simply at the mercy of a loving GOD to “create in me a clean heart, O GOD, and renew a right spirit within me”!  Being a man after GOD’S OWN heart must have made the man a little bit better than others?  But David only saw his brokenness and impurities, and he begged to be purged with hyssop!  “Cleanse me with hyssop...” was not talking about being clean physically.  Instead, King David was requesting to be Spiritually cleansed with hyssop, a current day antiseptic, to remove his sin from his account.  He understood, unlike some, that the blood of his father, Jesse, was tainted leaving him imperfect before a HOLY GOD.  He was conceived “IN SIN” and he lived “IN SIN”!  

Why do we want to act as though we are better than King David, or any other of GOD’S Creation? We are simply people born “IN SIN” and until we leave “this world” we will remain “IN SIN”!  JESUS CHRIST, born of a virgin by INCORRUPTIBLE SEED (1 Peter 1:23), SUFFERED through “this world”, in obedience to the FATHER, for the EXPLICIT purpose of providing my salvation!  

We ALL are born “IN SIN”!  NONE of us have the ability to NOT NEED A SAVIOR!  Unless you have the offering of JESUS on your behalf, you will stand before a HOLY GOD with what you were born with........”IN SIN”!!!