The Lord Laughs At His Enemies

Psalm 37:12,13

The wicked scheme against

 the righteous and 

gnash their teeth at them, 

but The Lord laughs,

seeing that their day

is coming.

    Proverbs 3:34

Surely He scorns the scornful, but He gives grace to the humble.

    Psalm 2:4

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; The Lord taunts them.

    Psalm 59:7,8

See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

    The wicked and evil in every generation believe themselves to be hidden from repercussions. Having no belief in God, no reverence is in their hearts: they are not afraid and pursue their unrighteous acts, speaking aloud the blasphemies that are in their hearts. 

    God scorns, holds in derision, those who scorn Him, those who hold Him in derision.  He laughs at their attempts to disenthrone Him. This is not gleeful laughter, nor is it joyful. This is a bold, loud, sneering laugh. It is bad enough to hear it from a person; it will be just horrendous to hear it from God. 

    The nations roar even now against the righteous. Many are imprisoned for speaking The Name of Jesus Christ. Many are tortured for the sake of the cross. Untold numbers are slaughtered for His Name's sake. 

    Laws are created to keep the Christian from speaking Jesus' Name. Laws are passed to prevent the Christian from praying in public, even silently. Laws are created to kill God's creations legally, from abortion to euthanasia.  Laws have been passed which can keep a preacher from preaching the gospel truth if it offends another person, even if that truth is being preached from their own pulpit inside their own church. 

    Evil is on the side of laws which attempt to keep the Christian from sharing the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ. This is nothing new. Since Christ came and made Himself known to us, the evil in mankind's hearts has risen up against the righteous in Christ, desiring our silence and demise. Not gonna happen. Though many of us will die at the hands and direction of our enemies, it is only our bodies that fall, not our souls. We see Jesus and He brings us home to Him. [Acts 7:55,56].

    But God laughs at their puny efforts to overcome us. He waits on high until the time that is appointed for judgment arrives. He will rise up and overthrow His enemies and the enemies of His people. That great and terrible Day is coming. 

    The unrepentant heart, the irreverent, the ones who refuse to obey The Word of The Lord will see Jesus in the Day of God's wrath. His laughter will turn to judgment, and His wrath will be upon all workers of iniquity. 

    Matthew 24:30

At that time the sign of The Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

    Revelation 1:7

Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds* of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. (*kindreds: clans, races, tribes)

    The time for laughing will be over. The time for justice will have arrived. Don't be one of the people who comes against God's people. For even if your actions appear to help us, your heart is seen by God and He knows your intentions. Your futile actions against us will be judged by The God you refused to listen to and obey. 

    2 Corinthians 6:2

For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

    The cross still calls. The garden still beckons. Jesus waits for any and all who are hungry for something better that what this world has to offer. He waits for you to hear His Voice. He waits for you to see Him as He is: Redeemer, Savior, Friend.

ALTAR CALL - Henry Seeley

MY VICTORY'S COMING-CAIN

    

Seeking The Nearness of God - Psalm 63:8

 

Psalm 63:8

My soul follows close behind You;

Your right hand upholds me.

    My soul goes where I go and I'm following close behind my Savior and my God. To follow close is to follow hard after, to pursue a righteous relationship with my God. It is to willingly choose to go where He leads, to walk with Him and not without Him. 

    To follow close is to maintain a healthy relationship with my Savior. To be so close He need only whisper and I will hear His voice. To be so near that when I brush up against Him, whatever has been ailing in me is healed in me. To be able to just lay my head on His shoulder when I grow weary. 

    His right hand upholds me. His Name is Strength. His Name is Mighty Fortress. His Name is Rock, The Chief Cornerstone. In His hand I reside and on His hand I stand and am made able to withstand all who come against me. His hand is refuge, shelter, hiding place. 

    Look at your hand. I look at mine and I see creases and wrinkles of flesh in my palms. My fingers no longer remain stretched out when I extend them: they tend to curl up or bend inwards. I am aging and so are my hands. But God's hands do not age. His hands are always strong, always perfect, always reaching out. 

    His hands are reaching out for whoever wants to be in the palm of His hand, in the shelter of His Love, in the refuge of His Grace, in the hiding place of His Mercy. He's reaching for you, if you are not already here with me, where I am upheld by His hand. 

    Though His fingers are stretched across this globe and through time, the palms of His hand are able to keep me upright and nearby. He will not drop me, nor will I ever want to leave Him. 

    Cup your hand. Turn it towards the light and let the light fall gently across your palm. That's us in the palm of God's cupped hand: The Light of His Love is upon us and will remain so, as long as we remain in His hand. 

    Isn't it wonderful to be this close to God and to know that He is The God of Right Now and Right Here? Yet, He is also The God Who Knows Everything (Omniscient). He knows what we are thinking. [Psalm 139:1-4; 1 Chronicles 28:9; . He knows what we are feeling in our hearts. [1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:10; Matthew 5:28]. 

    He is The God Who Can Be Everywhere At The Same Time (Omnipresent), whether we see time past, time present, time future. [Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 139:7].

    He is The God Who Is Almighty (Omnipotent). [Genesis 17:1; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 1:8; 4:8]. All power is in His hands: in His arm of salvation [Isaiah 59:16]. In His mighty right hand [Psalm 89:13]. 

    This is The God Whom I pursue. This is my God and I am His child. As the songwriter writes, He walks with me and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own. 

Seeking God's Deliverance & Rest - Psalm 63:7

 

Psalm 63:7

Because 

You have

Been my Help,

Therefore

In the shadow

Of Your wings,

I will rejoice.

THE LORD IS MY HELPER

Hebrews 13:6

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 

Psalm 118:7

The LORD is on my side; He is my Helper. Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

Psalm 121:2

My help comes from The LORD, The Maker of heaven and earth.

HIS WINGS

Psalm 17:8

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings.

Psalm 36:7

How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

Psalm 91:4

He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust: His Truth shall be your shield (mobile defense) and buckler (mighty immovable fortress).

Deuteronomy 32:11

As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

COMPARATIVE WINGS 

Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

    It is better to be under the divine shelter of God's grace through Christ Jesus than to remain on the outside of it. Would you not prefer to be surrounded by God's insurmountable mercy, than to be on the outside trying to look in? 

    We run to our heavenly Father for comfort and refuge, when we are afraid or lonely or sad, and attacked by those who have denied The Father and The Son. And in God we find our rest beneath the shadow of His wings. The mere shadow of God's wings is our refuge, our comfort. 

    We cannot save ourselves. There is nothing we can do on this side of heaven, this side of paradise, to get ourselves to the other side. We need a bridge that only God can build. And that bridge is Jesus Christ. On the cross. In the grave. Out in the garden. At the right hand of God. Enthroned beside His Father, Christ Jesus is also enthroned in the heart of everyone who believes on His Name for their salvation, and has chosen to hear and obey The Word which God has spoken. 

    Jesus came to gather up they who have placed their trust in Him. And someday He's returning, when God gives Him the say-so, to gather up not only the people who are living at that time, but the people who have died in faith trusting God for their salvation and resurrection. [1 Thessalonians 4:17]. 

    Under His wings we rejoice. We are so very thankful that God called our names and delivered us from the enemy who rages outside the ramparts of God's mercy and grace. We are grateful to Him for saving us from the ravages of sin and certain death. We praise His Name! that Name Above All Names which is our means of salvation! 

    Habakkuk 3:18

Yet I will rejoice in The LORD, I will joy in The God of My Salvation.

    Isaiah 61:10

I will rejoice greatly in The LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

    Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in The Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Seeking God In The Night - Psalm 63:6

 

Psalm 63:6

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.

    It is not that I have forgotten my God, it is only that here, too, I think about Him. And when sleep evades me, it is here on my bed, through a seemingly long night, I meditate on His Word and hear Him speaking to me. 

    The nights when I do not sleep, I still obtain rest, for I am resting in The Lord. It is no longer anxiety for myself that draws me to Him, for all my needs are met in Him. It is concern for the salvation of my family, new friends, acquaintances, strangers and foreigners, even my enemies get prayed for. 

    You may think it strange that I pray for those who are against my faith in Christ, but God loves the whole world, even the people who are killing His people. And it is not His desire that any would be lost forever. Even the people being killed for His Name's sake are praying for the salvation of the people who are killing them. 

    Yes, in an upside-down world, where "Evil is good, and good is evil", we are seeking to turn the world right-side up. We pray that blind eyes see, and deaf ears hear. That those whose hearts are hidden in darkness would be opened to The Light of God's Unfailing Love. 

    As sunset melts into the blues of a night sky, we turn our hearts and our minds to seek our God, to know His Word, and to hear His Wisdom. We turn our focus and our attention away from the distractions of this world, of which there are way too many, and humble ourselves (surrender what we want to do) to be with our God. It is not a desire for solitude that drives us here, as much as it is a desire to be in His rest and in His arms. 

    SOMETIMES BY STEP - Rich Mullins

Seeking Abundant Life - Psalm 63:5

 

Psalm 63:5
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

    Marrow and Fatness. How yummy does that sound? Yet, the soul is satisfied these, for this is Abundant Life. What is Life with God? 

    A Life that resounds with praise. A Life wherein we exult in our salvation and redemption with such love for our God and Savior that every part of us quivers like the bow after the arrow has flown, even our lips. 

    How can one's lips tremble with praise and joy if The One we are praising is not worthy of our praise? Yet, God, in all His glory stepped down from heaven to die on the cross for the sins of the world, that the world through Him might be saved from certain death and hell, had He not done this wonderful, glorious thing for us. [John 3:16-18]

    David, though he lived and died before Christ was ever born, knew that God is The Author of Salvation. He knew a strong, loving relationship with His God and He knew the joy of being near to God. He could truly say that his soul was filled with marrow (life) and fatness (abundant life). 

    Marrow is in the bones. It is the blood which gives the body life. Fatness in the body is strength. Fatness in the mind is wisdom. Fatness in the heart is knowledge and understanding. None of which we can obtain on our own. God gives life and life more abundantly through His Word, His Son Jesus Christ. 

    John 10:10

The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

    For the believer this is marrow and fatness. This is the reason we praise our God with joyful lips. He loves us with an Everlasting Love [Jeremiah 31:3; Psalm 103:17; Romans 8:38,39]. He gives us Holy Spirit, Who fills us with more and more of His Word when we read our Bibles and pray with our God [John 20:22; John 16:13-15; Acts 2:38].

    Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. 

    The atoning blood of Christ has made atonement for our souls! We are saved! We are being changed from the moment we believe into who we were created to be! [Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22; 2 Corinthians 3:18].

    We rejoice! and praise our God with joyful lips! We rejoice in The God of our Salvation! 

    Romans 5:1,2

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in The Hope of the glory of God.

    Colossians 1:27

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles (non-Jews) the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, The Hope of Glory.

    

    

    

Seeking to Worship God - Psalm 63:4

 

Psalm 63:4
I will bless You as long as I live
I will lift up my hands in
Your Name.

Psalm 104:33
I will sing to The LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Psalm 146:2
I will praise The LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Psalm 143:6
I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah.
Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

    I lift up my hands to You. Yadah (pronounced: yaw-daw'). Worship that is never silent, nor immobile. Whether we "throw" our hands out in front of us, or "throw" our hands up in the air above us, or thrown over a sacrifice, our hands and our arms are in motion. 

    Granted, as our bodies age, it is much more difficult to exert our bodies in such a way, and yet, God gives strength to the weak. I can still raise my hands and my arms, just not for very long. I can still stand. I can still walk. Just not for very long, nor very far. Yet. 

    There are many action words which can describe how we move our hands and arms in His direction. We stretch out our hands in hopes of touching at least the hem of  His garment as He passes by. [Luke 8:43,44]. We reach up, extending our arms above us, stretching out fingers into the atmosphere, giving God everything we have within us. [Psalm 103:1].

    We lift our arms in front of us, our palms facing out, as if to press in towards His direction, if only to brush up against Him and hear what He has to say to us more clearly. [Mark 5:24]. We must remember, though, that while many surge around Him, not everyone will be seen or heard. It is the heart of the worshiper that God sees and hears and responds to. 

    Let us gather together amongst His congregations in His houses of prayer and lift up our hands to His Name. For Who He is. For what He's done for us. To bless His wonderful Name. To praise His Holy Name. To honor His mighty Name. 

Seeking To Praise God - Psalm 63:3

 

Psalm 63:3
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.

    The lovingkindness of God is His mercy towards all people. This is reiterated in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world (all people) that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

    Mercy keeps God from annihilating people when the break His commandments, knowingly or unknowingly. God does not want people to die in their sins.

    That's why He sent the world His Savior, His Son, His Word wrapped in flesh. Believing on The Name of Jesus Christ for our salvation is the only way to avoid eternal death.

    God's people are to show this level of mercy, this same lovingkindness, to other people, whether they are His people, or are not yet His people, or are fighting against God. Once we were a people enslaved to our sinful nature, but now that God has saved us with His Mighty Power and brought us into His kingdom and His family, we choose to honor Him with our lives, every part of our lives.

    Our lips praise God for His neverending mercy towards us. His lovingkindness is BETTER THAN LIFE. We are willing to surrender our lives for His glory than live without Him. This is why so many of God's people are tortured, imprisoned, ridiculed, and killed for His Name's sake: we refuse to deny The Name of Jesus Christ.

    Believers do not go around killing other people, even in our thoughts. For God can see what we are thinking. We don't want to be mean-spirited, angry, or rude to one another. We cannot take offense. When we do, we immediately, once we are made aware of our sin, repent of it. And God forgives us. Jesus tells us to, "Love one another as I have loved you."

    God knows what is in a person's heart. Our hearts need to be focused on obeying God with joyful hearts and sincere worship should roll off our tongues, across our lips and into the arena of praise!

    We are all made in God's image. He set that in motion when He created Adam, and then Eve. To imagine someone's demise or thinking about inflicting pain and how is evil; it is not of God, nor is it of a godly nature. Forget Santa Claus or elf on the shelf, GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING.

    Which means God is always close by, too. He can tell the difference between someone using His Name as blasphemy (swearing) and someone saying His Name as a cry, a plea, for salvation through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. How will you say His Name?

GRACE GOT YOU - MercyMe

CRY OUT - TRIBL/Naomi Raine/ReFRESH

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH - KOTR

Seeing God's Glory - Psalm 63:2

    

    Psalm 63:2

To see Your power and Your glory, just as I have seen You in the sanctuary.

GOD'S POWER

    Exodus 15:6

Your right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.

    Psalm 118:16

The right hand of The LORD is exalted; The right hand of The LORD does valiantly.

    Hebrews 1:3

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the express image of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of The Majesty on high.

    2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, Who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

    John 1:14

And The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of The Father,) full of grace and truth.

GOD'S GLORY IS IN GOD'S SANCTUARY

The House of God

    2 Chronicles 5:13,14

13. The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank The LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to The LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of The LORD, was filled with a cloud 

14. so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of The LORD filled the house of God.

The Habitation of God

    Psalm 22:3

But You are holy, O Thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.

The Temple of God

    1 Corinthians 6:19

What? know you not that your body is the temple of The Holy Spirit Who is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?

The Dwelling Place of God

    Ephesians 2:22

And in Him, you too, are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

    Knowing now that God's power and God's glory are visible in God's residences, we must ask ourselves, "Is God visible in me?" and "Is God visible in my church?" The first question must be answered before one can see God and live. It must be answered before we die and leave the ability to make such a decision behind. In death and after death is too late. 

    And if God is living in me, have I become so complacent in my Christianity that God has taken a backseat in my life, while I determine which direction I go? But what if God is not living in a person? How do I invite God into my heart? 

    I must humble myself when I am made aware of Him. I must recognize that I have sinned against God, admit that I am a sinner, realize that death is my punishment, ask God to forgive me, and turn away from committing the sins that have kept me from the holy presence of God. 

    We must, on an individual basis, come to God and repent of all the awful words we have said, repent of the way we treat each other, repent of the lack of love in our words and actions, repent of sexual misconduct, repent of refusing to adhere to God's Law, repent of our thoughts, repent of everything that we have done and said that kept us from a loving relationship with God. 

    We see Christ Jesus on the cross carrying the weight of our sins across His shoulders and our hearts are broken. And in this brokenness, God creates a new heart within us. The Holy Spirit writes The WORD of God across our hearts and God enters our hearts to take up residence. 

    None of this is something that we can accomplish: Only The Power of God can turn an ugly heart into a fit dwelling place for Himself. 

    Salvation is instantly given us when we believe that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. Holiness is the process by which The Holy Spirit fine-tunes us from impure vessels of dishonor into pure vessels of honor. This is a daily thing for God's people. We are sanctified and set apart for His glory. 

    The second question can only be answered if the first question has. Even if the answer to the first question is "No", the seeker will begin to hunger after God, for now the heart has been made aware that it is lacking and that the thing which it lacks is The Eternal Presence of God. 

    Sadly, not many will seek after God. Not many will pursue a holy relationship in Christ to reach for God. No, not many will even look beyond the question, for the question begs for an answer; yet the answer will not come. 

    Come to Jesus. Come to God through Jesus Christ. Come and be found of Him by Him Who loves you. Come to The Altar. 

    

    

Seeking God Early - Psalm 63:1

 

Psalm 63:1

O God, You are my God;

 Early will I seek You:

  My soul thirsts for You; 

   My flesh longs for You 

In a dry and thirsty land 

 Where there is no water.

    Ever go on a hike without a water container? Tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth. Hard to speak, much less breathe. Sweat drenches your body for a while, but then evaporates leaving you really thirsty. Are our souls that thirsty? 

    After all, we've been in a dry and thirsty land on our hikes, our wanderings, our walks. Just sitting here thinking about it is making me thirsty  

   and I have a cold bottle of water staring me in the face. There, now I'm not physically thirsty for awhile. But I am oh, so thirsty for more of what God wants to share with me! 

    Psalm 63:1 is one of my favorite verses (I have quite a few faves) and I enjoy studying it out, always finding something new to learn, simply because God chooses to share new things about His Word with me. He wants to share Himself with you, too. Take my hand and let's go for a walk in The Word.

 

    SEEK GOD

Amos 5:4

For this is what The LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me so that you may live."

Isaiah 55:6

Seek The LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

Matthew 7:7,8

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

TRUST GOD  

Psalm 31:14

But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

THANK GOD  

Psalm 118:28

You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God, and I will exalt You.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

TASTE THE GOODNESS OF GOD  

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that The LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.

John 6:35

And Jesus said to them, "I Am The Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

DRINK THE WATER OF GOD  

John 7:37,38

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’ ”

    It is best to seek God early, for He calls out to us early. The devil calls us early, too. Both of them want us, but only One of them Loves us. The devil hates us the moment we are conceived, for we are made in God's triune image, and the devil hates God and everything affiliated with God. 

    Having the strong foundation of Christ upon which to build our lives will only make us stronger as the years go by, as long as we remain faithful to Him. We must fill ourselves with The Word of God on a daily basis. We can start when we wake up from sleep. 

*Thank Him for the new day He has given us wherein we can honor Him and He can accomplish His purpose in us. 

*Sing His praises early in our day.

*Pray with Him at first light or before the sun even rises.

*Praise Him for getting us through the night. Not just for rest, but for being with us in our good dreams and bad dreams. 

*Read our Bibles. We read and study The Scriptures together, when we ask God's Holy Spirit to reveal God's Holy Word to our untrained eyes, and the eyes of our hearts devour what God is giving us. And we want more of The Word, more of God, in us, for He strengthens the weak, and gives life to the dying.

    A daily walk in The Word is a refreshing walk in The Word. I cannot rely on a single bottle of water to quench my daily thirst. If there is any left in it after the first day, then it becomes tepid and flat. Just like us: lukewarm Christianity.

    Lukewarm Christians do not refresh: they repel. Halfhearted Christianity is unfulfilling. Straddling the fence is not choosing sides. In fact to try to attempt to move forward or even backward while straddling a fence is utterly painful. And we look ridiculous. We are fooling no one, not even God. 

    Christianity should be contagious. For the joy of The LORD is risen up within us! We are enthusiastic, bubbling over with gladness and gratitude for such grace as God has shown us! We love to be in His presence! Always radiantly shining His Light into the doom and gloom of someone's life. 

    We love our Lord and Savior and we want you to love Him, too! It is why we can't stop ourselves from talking about Him all the time! We are excited to be Christians--Christ followers--and we want you to be excited, too. 

  

The Ungrateful Dead

     Psalm 6:5

For in death there is no remembrance of You;

     In the grave who will give You thanks?

    Unthankful. Ungrateful. Unknowing. Uncaring. Ungodly. 

    Death has a sting, and that sting is sin [1 Corinthians 15:55,56]. Sin corrupts. Sin destroys. Sin separates. Sin devours. Sin enslaves. Sin gives birth to death [James 1:15]. Death traps and ensnares the unwary soul, drawing it down into the grave where it no more has any hope of escape. Death is eternal separation from God and all the good things which God has in store for the soul that is in Christ.

    Galatians 5:19-21

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

   

    Psalm 115:17

The dead praise not The LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

    Isaiah 38:18

For the grave cannot praise You, death can not celebrate You: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Your Truth. 

    Neither the grave, nor death have a voice to praise God with. Nor can their inhabitants, those who have died without the salvation of God upon their souls. 

    And who will go down into the Pit? The decaying. The souls who die without the robe of righteousness covering them. Those without Eternal Life giving them life in life. Those who have no hope of the first resurrection. The pit is the grave, that shallow trench in the ground into which the casket is lowered. It is the urn of ashes, the memory pendants and the natural burials. 

    The Pit is dark and darklit for a false light casts no shadows but reveals darksome and loathsome darkness. It is a place of despair [Job 9:31]. It is the darkest of the depths [Psalm 88:6]. The Pit is the grave and it is death. It is a place of abandonment, forsakenness, aloneness. It is a place without Light, without Love, without Hope, without Peace, without Knowledge, and without God. 

    Ecclesiastes 9:5,6

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

    The dead without Christ remember nothing and know nothing. Though we have the parable Jesus tells us of The Rich Man and The Beggar [Luke 16:19-31], it is a warning to the living to believe the gospel message of salvation which The Teacher had been teaching to those who followed Him. 

    Our emotions and our thoughts are our souls. How we love and how we think cease when our soul dies. The soul that does not know Jesus in life will not know Jesus in death. They neither love nor hate nor envy anyone any more. They knew not the love of God in life and are now dead forever: twice. 

    Revelation 21:8

But to the cowardly (faithless) and unbelieving (untrustworthy) and abominable (detestable) and murderers (willful, intentional life-takers) and sexually immoral (all who habitually violate God’s moral order in matters of sexuality) and sorcerers (deliberate rebellion: an idolatrous attempt to secure power apart from the living God; magicians; [Isaiah 47:9-13; Micah 5:12]) and idolaters (pagan worship and misplaced trust [Ephesians 5:5]) and all liars (evidence of persistent unbelief, truth-twisters, speaking out of their own heart and not by The Spirit of God, charismatic and persuasive, yet not Spirit-filled nor Spirit-led [Jeremiah 23:16; Genesis 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:3,5]), their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.

    The ungrateful dead do not believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. And they never will. They refuse to see that their destination is their own fault. 

    John 3:18

"Whosoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whosoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in The Name of The Only Begotten Son of God."

    John 5:24

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes in Him Who sent Me has everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into Life."

    Matthew 13:40-42

"As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

    Some of these ungrateful dead will be in the church but not of it. They think themselves safe because they merely attend or are members of a church, but not every church is God's house. Nor are they sanctuaries in which to seek The Lord in, nor honor Him with their hearts, only their lips move but there is no love for God, no worship to and of God. 

    The ungrateful dead are weeds who were hidden in the wheat. Though these weeds will be gathered with the wheat, they will also be separated from the wheat, and thrown into the firepit. The weeds are the wolves which threaten the sanctity of the church. These wolves preach false doctrines that do not align with The Truth of God's Word. The darkness of their hearts spills out of their mouths vile deceit and wickedness in their attempts to lead God's sheep astray.

    With whom will you align yourself? With the ungrateful dead who deny God and His Christ? Or will you believe that Jesus Christ Is Lord and let Him save you from condemnation? Your choice. I can pray that you make the right decision, but I can't make your decision for you. 

    

    

Serve The Lord With Fear

 

Psalm 2:11

Serve The LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

SERVE THE LORD WITH FEAR

    Having just finished our study on The Fear of The Lord, do we have this one down pat? No. Learning is a process. Don't worry about remembering everything we are learning. We'll do what we need to do - learn - and The Holy Spirit will do what He needs to do - bring to our remembrance what we have learned. 

    When we serve The LORD with fear, we are serving Him with reverent awe, acknowledging that He is God and there is no other. Those who do not have this fear of The LORD are many because they refuse to recognize His authority and that He is The Only God. 

    Deuteronomy 10:12 The Lord asks us to fear Him by:

Walking in all His Ways

Loving Him

Serving Him with all our heart and with all our soul

Keeping His commandments and statutes

    The fear of The Lord in the one who fears Him is an active fear (walking, loving, serving, keeping) and is always in motion. Those who live in the fear of The Lord take their rest in Him: our eyes may close for sleep, but we are able to sleep the sleep of the blessed and the favored of The Lord. 

    We walk -- live out our lives -- in all His Ways. We walk by faith (living a life of hope in His Word) and we walk by His Spirit (we don't walk alone). We walk The Way of Holiness, a narrow path which only those who fear The Lord can traverse. It is an old, well-worn path which many have trod before us. 

    It is not a hidden path. But it's narrowness causes many to dismiss it as useless and worn-out, while others believe there is more than one path. A few believe they can walk more than one path at a time, blending paths together to form a new path. This is silly foolishness. 

    We love Him because He first loved us. We love Him had He done nothing for us but to call us to follow Him. The Old Testament saints had not yet seen the promise of God's Savior, yet they believed God and they followed Him anyway. 

    We make a conscientious and willing decision to serve God with all our heart and with all our soul: the dual seat of our decision making. We go where He sends us and speak what He tells us to speak. With Christ as our example, Who only went where God sent Him and only spoke what God gave Him to speak, we resolve (everyday) to do so, as well. 

    We keep His commandments when we put Him first in everything. Seeking His counsel first. Going to Him in prayer with our worship first, and our needs second. For the commandments of The Lord are righteous, holy, and perfect [Psalm 19:7; Romans 7:12]. The statutes of The Lord are righteous [Deuteronomy 4:8]. His entire Law is for our benefit [Joshua 1:7,8].

REJOICE WITH TREMBLING

    Those who fear The Lord in such manners as these given rejoice in The God of their Salvation. We praise Him, thank Him, glorify Him, honor Him. We give Him the 'firstfruits of our lips'. When we waken, we greet Him. When we arise, we seek Him. When we prepare for the day, we thank Him for the new day in which to serve Him. 

    This trembling within us is deep-seated, innate (fundamental/basic), deep-rooted. When we are in Christ and He is in us, we are keenly aware that not only that something wonderful has happened, but that that something is the power of God. We are amazed that He loves us so much He died for us. His grace overwhelms us and we fall to our knees, weeping. We throw ourselves on the mercy of His court and He forgives us! 

    This innate trembling is both inherited and acquired. We acquire it when we join the family of God through our faith in The Name of Jesus Christ. It is inherited after we are grafted into The Vine (Jesus Christ) and become a family member through the bloodline of The Lamb of God. The body of Christ trembles with profound joy. 

    Whether times are good or seasons of distress are upon us, we joy in The God of our Salvation. [Habakkuk 3:16-18]. The sovereignty of God over all of His creation is a blessing worth praising and taking joy in. 

    This word 'rejoice' is vividly rendered as 'violently spinning': to spin round (under the influence of any violent emotion). A person can so exult in their joy of their Lord that their bodies tremble in His presence. But this same base root can also refer to someone who is scared to death to be in the presence of The Lord, who cringes and backs away to get away from Him; someone who wants only to flee from the presence of The Lord God. The body of Christ anticipates a joyful union with Christ and we can't help but tremble in His presence: we love to be in His presence. 

THE LORD REIGNS - Bob Fitts (1989)