Psalm 59:10

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look {triumphantly} upon my foes.

     It can be so easy to get discouraged as a Christian. When we look around about us at the world, we see that there sin everywhere. We see people who not only do not care about God, but are actively seeking to thwart Him. The disparage those who are Christians. They find ways to impede them. Truth be told, if they had their way they would silence Christians forever. More and more these people gain leverage in our society to where we feel that they are overcoming our influence.

      Even more so, we see that we have enemies in the spiritual realm. Satan and his cohorts are looking to thwart us at every turn. They are trying to cause us to fall. Sometimes they may be more successful than others. In our weaker moments we might even have doubts that there is any chance for victory. It seems as though we might as well concede defeat to Satan and save ourselves the time. How would we be able to overcome Him?

      No matter who may oppose us and our faith, we need to keep in mind that the Lord is on our side. He has already defeated death. He is omnipotent. There is no being in either the spiritual or physical realm that can stand against Him. Not even if all beings combined against Him would they have the strength. That means that when we, as Christians, go to battle we have assurance. We know that we have victory. The Lord will help us to overcome any who stand in our path, if we will only trust in Him. All hail the King of Kings!

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look {triumphantly} upon my foes.

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

The world is full of things we cannot control. We cannot control the economy. We may be able to do our part to help it here or there, and some people have more control than others. Yet there is so much we cannot control. We cannot control how other people treat us. We of course want to be liked by everybody and have good relationships with them. But we cannot make them be our friends. We only have so much control over who rules our country. The list could go on and on about the things that we cannot control, especially when you include the day to day type ordeals.

Paul here tells us not to worry about these things. Why not? First of all because it does us no good. If we cannot control it, there is no reason to fret over it. The second is that we need to pray about it. We need to go and talk to God about it. There are two ways that this helpful. The first  is that it is always good to talk to someone about our woes. God cares and He loves us, so He is a great Person to share our problems with.

The second reason is that we are talking to the most High God. While we may have very little control, when we pray we are talking to the One who as all control. He is in charge. And while our prayers may not change the circumstance, it is comforting to remember that God is on our side.  We can take courage, because the Creator of the Universe listens to us. That means that in times that feel out of control, we can actually take some control by praying to God and trusting Him. That is what allows us to have a peace that passes understanding, no matter what is going on around us.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Matthew 14:29

And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Peter has a lot of flaws. In many ways people almost pick on Peter because of all the mistakes that he makes. However, it would be a disservice to him and to ourselves if we did not focus on his good qualities. Peter was always one to put himself on the line. He was the first to speak up, although that sometimes back fired on him. Whenever he sees Jesus walking on the water, he cries out to Him that if it was Jesus, that He command Peter to come out on it.

Peter was a fisherman. He had spent his entire life around water and in boats. Of all people, Peter understood that men could not actually walk on water. He probably had plenty of experience himself of not being able to walk on water. Yet when Jesus says, “Come!”, Peter does not hesitate for a second. He gets right out of the boat and onto the water. What is amazing is that he actually walks. By faith he was able to obey a seemingly impossible command given by the Lord.

There are times when the Lord asks very difficult tasks of us. Some may even seem impossible. Yet we need to remember this story. Just as Jesus gave Peter the ability to walk on water, He gives us the power to complete any command He gives us. We need to make sure that we trust the Lord to do that. We need to believe in His power to help us overcome. And then we need to have the courage to do so. Are you willing to step off of the boat?

And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

     The story of Cain and Abel is an intriguing tale. Often times we talk about it in Sunday School, teaching it to little kids. Yet this story is amazing in how it really represents the choices that we face today. The first story we have after Adam and Eve delves a little further into the responsibility that man has. We have two different brothers, facing the same situation. Yet the diverge on two different paths. In any given situation we encounter, we too have two different paths that we can take.

     One path was taken by Cain. This is the path of disobedience. Cain knew what was expected of him. Yet he decided not to do it. The passage does not tell us why. It may have been because of selfishness. Another possibility is that he disobeyed God because of laziness. Maybe he was feeling resentment toward God. Only one thing matters: he disobeyed God. Because of that there was a separation between him and God. If we disobey god, a separation exists with us also.

     Abel, on the other hand, chose to obey God. He did what it was that the Lord desired. Because of this, he found favor with the Lord. He could have been like Cain and decided not to obey God. Yet he decide that obedience was paramount, so He did what the Lord desired. Today if we follow Abel’s example, we will also find favor with the Lord. However, we must do whatever the Lord commands us. In Cain and Abel, we see two paths that we can take. Which path will you take?

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Acts 14:17

and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

Sometimes life really gets us down. It is so easy to get discouraged. We look all around us, and it seems that the only thing that we can see is misery. We wonder why our lives did not go this way or that. Why do we not have more money or more friends? Our hearts start to drag. We become weary about trying to live our lives. In our most desperate hours we may even start to doubt our faith.

However, we need to remember that in fact God has given us many blessings. We tend to focus on the negative. However God has given us so much. He has given us all of the meals that we eat. He has given us the world in which we live. Everything that is good about this earth came from God. And God made it for us. He gave it to us because He wanted us to have a good dwelling place. He has watched over and taken care of us in every way. When we feel that there is nothing right in our lives, we need to look again, and focus instead on what we do have.

What is even more encouraging about all of this is that these gifts show us something amazing about God. First of all, as Paul says, this gifts our given as a witness to us about Him. He wants us to recognize that He is there, involved in our lives. Second of all, the gifts are a sign of His love. You do not give gifts to those you despise. Instead they are given for those you care about. When we look at the positive things in life, those gifts of God should not just make us happy because we have them, but because they speak of the intentions of a Father who loves us greatly.

and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

John 5:11

But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”

In John 5, Jesus heals a lame man and commands him to take his pallet up and walk. The Pharisees had a problem with this because it broke their traditions about the Sabbath day. When the lame man was confronted by them about this, he had a simple reply. Jesus was the one who healed him. That meant that Jesus had the power of God. If Jesus has that power, then it seemed to be a necessary conclusion that he had the authority to tell him what to do.

Today, people may question what the Lord commands us to do. It does not sit well with their preconceived ideas of what the world should be like. They think that God’s rules are all wrong. So they may try to entice us or even condemn us for obeying what the Lord says. In fact, this is what the world does many times. It takes the practices that Jesus has given us to obey and tries do condemn them. It will ridicule and humiliate those who follow them.

As Christians, we need to be prepared for any such attacks. In order to do that, we need to follow the example of the healed lame man. We need to see the power of Jesus. We can see it through the gospel accounts, all of the miracles that He preformed. We can also see it in our own lives. The fact that He has the power to save and heal our souls should tell us all we need to know about His authority. As the lame man, it is not our place to question the commandments that Jesus as laid out. We just simply say that the One who healed us told us to do it, and we will obey what He says.

But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”

John 6:27

“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

These days, it is easy for people to get consumed by work. There is always so much of it to do. At times we may feel that we need more money, or that it is vital to maintain a certain lifestyle. In order to keep with everything it is that we want, we find ourselves spending all our time at work. Yet Jesus here warns that the work we should focus on is the spiritual.

This is not to say that we should all just quit our jobs. Paul teaches that idea is obviously false. Instead, he wants them to know and to understand that while our earthly work may be important, it is not nearly as important as the work of God: faith. As Christians, we need to be actively obeying our father. It is not right for us to treat it as a hobby or as something of lesser importance. Nothing, not even the job we use to provide food for ourselves is more important than that.

The encouraging thing about working for God is that we can be assured that it will pay off. There is not going to be a layoff, nor do we have to worry about being cheated by our business partner. Those who focus on the spiritual food will be fed by the Lord. The rewards for working for God far exceed what any paycheck could give us. If we are a faithful servant we will be awarded home with Him for eternity.

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

1 Samuel 17:45

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

      The story of David and Goliath has been turned into something of a myth in our day and age. One of the easiest ways to realize that is to notice how often it is used in relation to sports. Most of the time it is used as a way of talking about how difficult it will be for an underdog to achieve victory. And if those underdogs win, we attribute to a great amount of luck and timing. While there is some room for poetic license, it would be a mistake for us to equate David’s defeat of Goliath as a feat of great luck or just lucky timing.

     David’s victory was not based on such unreliable means. Instead, when he addresses Goliath before their fight, he makes known to Goliath why it is he will conquer. It is because God is on His side. Goliath made a mistake, not in discounting David for David was just a man. No, Goliath was foolish enough to taunt the everlasting God. God is the one who guided David to victory. To reduce it to mere luck is to come close to blaspheming against the Lord and His great power. God’s power is what brought Goliath down.

     This should be of great comfort to us as Christians today. Our battlefield is different than David’s. Our war is on the spiritual plane, in our mind, and in our heart. Many times we will come against an enemy on one of those battlefields that makes us cower. We may feel afraid that we will not be able to overcome the enemy. Yet by David’s example, we know that we can overcome any opponent. We do not have to rely on luck or timing. Instead we can put our faith in the Lord, and He will reward us with a victory over any who would oppose us.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

Luke 7:50

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

     In the New Testament, we read about a man named Simon. Simon was a Pharisee who decided to have Jesus over to His house. When he did so, he was interrupted by a poor woman. This woman was a known sinner. When she came into the house, she went directly to Jesus. She started kissing his feet. This would be considered gross today, yet when she did it it would have been worse. Jesus wore sandals all day on dusty roads. On top of this she used her hair to clean his feet that were washed with her tears. Finally she poured a perfume on His feet.

     Simon is perplexed by Jesus allowing this woman to be near Him. In Simon’s eyes, this woman should be an outcast. Why would Jesus accept her touching Him? Yet what Simon failed to realize is that this woman was in a much better state than he was. Simon was glad to have Jesus over, but he certainly felt no need to fawn over Him. He offered no cleansing of the feet, a common practice of the day. He treated Jesus as if the Lord was just any other guest. And it was this casual attitdue that seperated him from the woman.

     It was in this context that Jesus offered His statement of forgiveness. This should be of great hope to us today. This woman, who was of such ill repute that Simon knew of her and that she was sinful, was granted forgiveness of sins. We too are offered forgiveness of sins, no matter how sinful we may be. But we must also share with her in attitude if we expect to share in her reward. We cannot be like Simon and just casually acknowledge Jesus in our lives. Instead we must lay our selves prostrate before Him with an attitude that will do whatever He desires. In putting ourselves at His mercy, we will indeed receive it.

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

2 Timothy 2:22

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

      When Joseph was facing temptation by Potiphar’s wife, she pursued him hard. She grabbed him by his garment and tried to entice Him. Joseph ran away as quickly as he could. He fled the situation. As Christians, we need to flee the lusts that Satan may try to entice us with. We cannot dwaddle or hang around our lusts. To allow them any place in our life is to be inviting sin and death to our door. What we need to do is run away as fast as possible.

     We need not be only running away from sin. We can run toward righteousness, faith love and peace with the same ferocity as we flee. Often times we run aimlessly. Yet that does us no good. We wind up lost and in the dark. We get all turned around and go back into the sin that we had been trying to flee from. But if we run to the things that Paul lists here, we run into the arms of safety. In these things we find refuge from the lusts that try to pursue us.

     By pursuing righteousness, we find the desire to do the things that we know are right. By pursuing faith, we gain the trust to do what God commands even when we do not understand why we must. By pursuing love, we put God’s desires and needs before our own. With peace we have the ability to be content no matter what it is that we are having to do. If we would just pursue the things that Paul commands here, we will recieve them. And in receiving them we will be able to avoid those sinful lusts that have plagued us so long. 

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.