Cleanse Your Hearts

James 4:8 says “draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, (sound familiar?) you sinners; purify your hearts, you double-minded. “ James was writing to believers! 

Passover is being mentioned now in some prophetic words given from various places and through various people that worst of this coronavirus plague will be over by Passover - April  9. If so, that will be a miracle and we welcome it!

Before the first Passover in Ex 12 God told the people to remove the leaven out of their homes. In Mt 16:6 Jesus explained that the leaven symbolizes sin.

For the last three days since I read this, I’ve been inviting the Lord to bring to mind “leaven” in me. He is bringing things to mind for repentance. I am examining my heart in this quiet time - the time when God has given us space. I am writing each one down.

Then God said in verse 13 “the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you.” 

We use the term "blood of Jesus" a lot, but many don't understand the phrase. They don't know the Old Testament--the place where God reveals just who He is. The phrase has been said so much that it loses its power. This gives weight and understanding of the power we have received and are still receiving in Christ.

Yes, we’ve been washed in his blood, but we are still to examine our hearts. 

We are to cleanse our own hands and heart and repent for ourselves and for this nation.  Since I read this, I’ve been inviting the Lord to bring to mind “leaven” in me. He is bringing things to mind for repentance. I am examining my heart at this quiet time.  I am writing each conviction down.

Hello, Again

I have not posted in quite some time, but I have studied more and more ways in which we "Remember the Lord."

It's hard to post when I have no followers! The riches God reveals remain hidden withing the scribbles and "dailyness" of my journals, in the margins of my Bibles and in multiple Bible study notes.

If there was ever a time to REMEMBER THE LORD it's now, during this COVID-19 crisis. I will again use this space and that of my other blog WHATSOEVER THINGS to document what I'm hearing from God. He is definitely a speaking God! Are we listening?

Mountain-Mover

This morning I felt defeated. Overwhelmed. Ready to give up believing that God will be faithful to take care of what concerns me. (Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will accomplish what concerns you.”) I thought of all the prayers, all the Bible study, all the journal entries –all my hopes and dreams for my family. These things “concern” me—they concern me deeply. Sometimes just bringing each of their needs to the Lord in prayer magnifies the vastness of the needs and the intense evil of the circumstances and culture that work against us.

Matthew 17:20 “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”

Learning that I can pour my heart out before God like the psalmists did transformed my life. It has been my lifeblood – my sanity-preserver. What my feet run to do when I get out of bed in the morning. (after I grab my coffee!)  In Psalm 62:8, God tells us “Pour out your heart before Him.” But I am beginning to see that that I don’t need to spend a lot of time describing the mountains to God. He already knows what they are. Rather, turn my attention on the mountain mover -- His glory, His power and His faithfulness. I must intentionally shift my focus from the size of the mountain to the sufficiency of the mountain-mover.

I remembered the story of the twelve spies Moses sent to check out the Promised Land. Ten came back trembling at the size of the cities, armies and giants. Two came back saying “the God who is faithful promised He would give us the land, so let’s go in His strength.” The two didn’t deny the size of the obstacles, but turned their focus on the sufficiency of the One who promised. They remembered the character and promises of the God who had already proven Himself by delivering them from Egypt.

Like the two spies, I will remember the Lord! I will remember His Word, His Name, His character and His ways!  I won’t deny the mountains but rather set my focus on the mountain- mover. 

Knowing God

The most amazing fact in the universe is that we can actually know God!

God created us with the capacity to know Him. Even the world He created tells us about Him! Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." Romans 1 says "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."

Through inspired men, He gave us the Bible in which He revealed Himself by telling the story of His work among real people in real times. He told us about His character, His acts, His attributes and His ways. He revealed Himself through hundreds of names by which He is known--each of which tells us something about who He is  After Jesus died on the cross and ascended into heaven, God the Holy Spirit actually came to dwell within us--"God in us" and always available to us, teaching and guiding us.

The apostle Paul expressed that his greatest desire and aim in life was to know God. In Philippians 3:10, Paul said "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings."

God has gone to great lengths to make Himself known to us. Knowing God is the answer to all our questions!

A Choice to Make

"Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He never be favorable again?
Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?"
These words expressed despair of the author of Psalm 77 at a dark time in Israel's history.

This psalmist made a decision in verse 11 to turn his focus on who God is: His promises to us, the kind of God He revealed Himself to be and His past acts of faithfulness to us. He made a decision: "I will remember the deeds of the Lord...What god is great like our God?"

As some of you know, I have been studying, teaching and writing about "remembering the Lord" for a year or two. I can't seem to get enough of searching for and finding all the wonderful things that God tells us in the Bible to "remember" about Him! Those things we are to think on, meditate on and base our faith on. The entire Bible is about God revealing Himself to mankind.  The answer to every hurt, problem or fear is always found in the character of God! Who He really is! What kind of God He is!

Today it is the time for me to make a choice, as the old cliche' says, to "put my money where my mouth is." Yes, I am disappointed. It really hurts to have hope crushed. As Christians, it was not about our 401k's or even our healthcare, but about making a least one step back toward the values upon which this country was established. Yet, today, I choose to "remember the Lord!"

Has God changed? No, because, He said in Malachi 3:6 "I, the Lord, do not change."

Has God left us? No, because He said in Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

"For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, and to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Today: REMEMBER THE LORD!

What Does It Mean To "Remember"?

The word "remember" is important in the Old Testament - used 148 times. In the Hebrew language it implies a note of compassion. It is much more than a brain function  - more than remembering where my keys are. The Hebrew word translated "remember" in the Old Testament means:

• to express concern for
• to act with loving care for
• to remember with favor
• to think again
• to recall 
• to be careful not to forget

The word was often used in connection with God remembering His covenant promises. 

Remembering was not passive - unlike something simply "popping" into your head. When God remembered, He acted! His remembering was followed by an action to fulfill His covenant promises.

The first mention of the word "remember" is in Genesis 8:1  The "first mention" of a word in the Bible is significant in Bible study. It usually determines how that Hebrew word will be translated and what its meaning is throughout scripture. 

Genesis 8:1 "And God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark, and God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged."

It is almost comical to think of God suddenly remembering that Noah is floating around in the ark with all those animals.  Of course God had not actually forgotten Noah was there, but He uses the word "remember" to express the loving care and favor with which He acts to rescue Noah and family. 

Another illustration of the meaning of the word is in Genesis 30:22, "God remembered Rachel and opened her womb." Of course, God had not forgotten that Rachel was barren or that He had promised Abraham that through his seed the whole earth would be blessed. Of course, Jacob's wife must have a child in order for Abraham's line of descendants to continue. God had not forgotten. It had not slipped His mind, but here, He expresses the loving care with which He acts to fulfill His covenant with Abraham.

Again, in Exodus 2:24, after the Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, they cried out to God and "God heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."   

When God remembered, He acted! In the Old Testament, when the people remembered God, they worshipped Him. Remembering was a part of their worship. Remembering is not a passive activity.

Asaph, the author of Psalm 77

As we saw in the previous post, the author of Psalm 77 was in a dark place. In verses  7-9 he expresses his deep despair.

"Will the Lord reject forever?

And will He never be favorable again?

Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?

Has His promise come to an end forever?

Has God forgotten to be gracious

Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?

Then I said, 'It is my grief

That the right hand of the Most High had changed.'"

What was the writer of Psalm 77 going through that caused such despair? The author of Psalm 77 is believed to be a man named Asaph. He was the director of music as King David's Tent of Meeting and at Solomon's temple. He probably wrote much of the music that accompanied David's Psalms. He held that position at least until the dedication of Solomon's temple, probably for about 40 years. He lived during the reigns of David, Solomon and Solomon's son Rehoboam.

I remember feeling just like Asaph expressed above after 9/11. It seemed that life in our country would never be secure or happy again. We have lived an incredibly blessed life here and enjoyed the American dream. I thought, "is all that over?" "Will my family love a secure life, or is all hope now gone?

Without understanding Asaph's life and times, we can't fully comprehend Psalm 77. Serving under David, he knew of the great promise that God gave David that his descendant would reign over the throne in Jerusalem forever. He had to have been very close to David. He lived through seeing David fall in to sin with Bathsheba. He experienced David's grief and observed the grace of God on David's life. He grieved over David's death, and rejoiced with all of Israel as David's son Solomon built the glorious temple. Like many, he probably assumed that Solomon was the messiah and that the Millennial Kingdom was beginning. He rejoiced over the wisdom and glory of Solomon's reign, only to be devastated when Solomon turned his back on God and pursued power, wealth, women and human wisdom, as well as worship of other gods.  There is good reason to believe that Asaph's brother, Zechariah (not the prophet) was assassinated by Solomon's agents for not keeping silent about Solomon's wickedness. Asaph saw Israel torn in two and then the temple stripped by an invasion of Egyptians.  No wonder he was depressed! Asaph's times were much more dire and dangerous than even the beginning of our War on Terror.

It is amazing to see though, that, in his deep despair, Asaph knew God! He knew God's character--his mercy, lovingkindness, compassion. Because he knew God, he could not understand God's seeming silence. He assumed that, since he could not see God working in his situation, that something must be wrong!  He expected God's presence to be with him and did not understand why it seemed that God was no where to be found! How did Asaph know that he could pour out his heart like that to God? Remember this man worshipped with David. He had witnessed David's heart-wrenching repentance as expressed in Psalm 51. Because Asaph knew God, the mood of the psalm changes dramatically in verse 11 when Asaph made a decision to REMEMBER God.