The Apple of His Eye

Psalms 35:1 A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Psalms 35:2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Psalms 35:3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

 

Have you ever been attacked?  If you are living and breathing right now, then the probability is very high.  Have you ever felt like you were being attacked?  I feel like I can write about this topic, because I have been the attacked many times!  Although I believe I am not being attacked now, it will only be a matter of time before I feel like I am being attacked or will be attacked.

Don’t attacks seem so vicious and brutal?  They seem to hit us in the most vulnerable and week spot…don’t they?  They usually catch us off guard and we get to mix in embarrassment with our pain…….I HATE being attacked!  A lot of things come to my mind: why? who? what did I do?….all are questions that usually come off of my tongue when this happens.  Let me encourage you and myself and remind us all of what the Psalmist did when he got attacked.

1. He went to God.  Wow, I could spend all day on this.  God does not want us to be attacked, but is ready for us to come to Him when we do get attacked.  Because God gives everyone free-will, He chooses not to control some things, which at times are evil attacks from one person to another.  Don’t blame God for another sinner attacking you, but rather run to Him and let Him deal with it.  He longs to be the One to whom you run to when hurtful and hateful things are done to you.  He wants to be there to catch your tears (Psalms 56:8  Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?)  God catches all of your tears.  They mean a lot to Him.  They are precious to Him.  If you have children, you understand what I mean by that.  We are God’s children (if we are saved), and the apple of God’s eye (Psalms 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,).  He loves you!  He cares about your broken heart and hurts when you hurt.  Some people do not realize this because they don’t run to God when they hurt.  When they do not run to God in their hurt, they don’t feel His love and realize that He hurts with you.  They are truly depriving themselves of God’s love all because they do not go to God when they get hurt.  What will your first action be when you get hurt?  Will you run to God?  Remember you are the Apple of His Eye!

–To Be Continued Tomorrow

 

 

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As He Thinketh In His Heart

Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 

The above verse uses some very strong words when it comes to a loving God.  Can you imagine the one person that epitomizes love and grace and forgiveness making the statement that He regrets you ever being born?  When I think of God, what quickly comes to my mind is love, mercy, compassion, etc…but let’s not think that this sums up God.  He is so awesome and intricate that no one can know the mind of God.  So my question still stands, “What makes God say that He regrets   making man?”  The answer is found in the verse 5.

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

At first glance a person might think that there was an action done that would make God that mad, but according to verse 5, what caused God’s outrage was actually every thought and imagination of man was only evil continually.  That may not seem like a “game-changer” for most people, but to God it is.  In fact, He decided to change all of mankind right then with the flood.  I would take a guess and say that God cares about what we think!  God puts high importance on what we think and imagine!  Imagine That!  Here is another verse on thinking

Pro 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. 

God hates it when we think on things that are evil.  I didn’t say that we have evil thoughts toward some and want them to hurt, but when we dwell on evil thinking like witchcraft and vampires and werewolfs and immoral and adulterous people and acts.  I don’t know who reads this so I don’t know anything about your life to meddle, but I want to say that what we think about is very important to our God….what do you think about in your spare time?

 

 

No Trespassing!

Good Morning,

It was wonderful seeing you all this Sunday.  Look forward to seeing you at our mid week services.

Brother Ray Newmans

NO TRESPASSING

Psalms 90:12 – So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Last week I had a very interesting time with my work.  I was blessed by being awarded a large Section 8 housing complex to re-roof.  With this working blessing I am never short of people to share the GOOD NEWS with at these locations.  Very poor and defeated people who by all means need the love the Lord has plenty of.  Amazing as it may seem my devotional today has nothing to do with them 100 or so people living in that housing complex.  It has to do with the couple just behind this complex.  I will be as brief as I can be,  I know your time is limited.  Please let me paint the picture for you.

Old man in his 80s at least.  Hard looking man.  Just not the one you would pull up a chair with.  Life had been hard on him from what I could see.  His skin was sun beaten and cracked.  His laser like blue eyes shined through his leather colored face.  He has some health issues, but was doing well for the years he had been allowed to walk around on this earth.  I thought of how many presidents, how many fads, and how many hard times this guy had lived past.  Then…  watching him walk in his back door.  I wondered how many books he could write about the wonderful things he had experience in his life.  He had a modest house.  He wife was always in the kitchen window.  I seen him smile once.  Of course not at me.  It was when he walk out of the house to get in his chair on the back porch.  You could tell he loved her more at them moments then ever.

His home was older then the Section 8 complex.  So, that means he was there first and stayed even after his property value took a big hit from it.  He didn’t build a huge fence.  He didn’t have 7 blood hunger attack dog waiting for someone to walk his way.  All he had was a little sign stuck in the ground stating “NO TRESPASSING”.  Sometimes the wind would carry the paper off our shingle bundles into his yard.  I would stop at the sign.  Look at him.  He would tip his hat.  I would run over get the trash out of his yard and hurry back to the “my side” of the trespassing sign.  My crew all followed the same rules.  NO ONE went into his yard unless he was on his porch and gave us the go ahead.  Needless to say he spent a lot of time on his porch Monday giving us permission to enter and then making sure we exited his unguarded grounds.

The next day we moved on to a different building and his yard was not in danger of trash any longer.  I still noticed him on that porch about the same time every day.  Then I was snapped back into your building something mode and just got busy with all my daily worries of roofing.

That same evening two men broke into that OLD MAN’s home looking for pain pills.  They found what they broke in looking for… 7 pain pills.  The cost!  They beat that old man so bad he died the Friday morning.  His wife placed in the hospital with a life no one wants to live.  A life of loss.  I didn’t even know his name.  I let the NO TRESPASSING sign hold me back.  Evil used it for a target.  I didn’t “GO” because I thought I had plenty of time. I would catch him in the yard and get him talking.  That day will never happen!

All our days are numbered.  I promise you this right now… If I could have that Monday of last week back.  I would know his name.  I would have heard them stories.  I would have ask that very important question.  If you died today, would you go to HEAVEN?

Their is No Faithfulness in Their Mouth.

Psa 5:8  Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

Psa 5:9  For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

The Psalmist is begging God in these two verses to lead him in righteousness.  These two verses are one complete thought, they need each other to expound what is happening with the writer.  The enemies are hindering his walk in several ways.  They are confusing him by making his “way” not look straight.  This is one of their most used tactics to hindering you and me in doing God’s will.  They want you to be confused as to which direction you should take.  They like to cause confusion in God’s will for your life.  They want you to think that you cannot attain God’s purpose for your life.  They know that God can do mighty things through you and they believe it more than you do; that is why they try to stop you before you start.  Let me encourage you to continue on the Lord’s will even if it looks crooked to you as it did to the Psalmist in verse 8.  The Lord’s will is not crooked, but straight!
The next verse shows another tactic that they use.  They try to convince you that they have your best interests in mind for you…that only they understand you and only they know what is best for you.  Keep in mind what the Psalmist says in verse 8, there is not faithfulness in their mouth, and their inward part is very wickedness.  Their throat is an open grave.  With their mouth, they convince you to give up and die.  Remember…there is not faithfulness in their mouth.  Repeat these words to yourself when that temptation comes, when that discouragement comes from them, and when they try to stop you before you start…their is no faithfulness in their mouth.
Bro. CW’s challenge for today:

Don’t believe them over God!  What God starts, He will finish!

The Man in Verse Six

 

Psa 5:6  Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

Psa 5:7  But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

There are two types of people being mentioned in these verses.  The first one is a person that crafts and strategically arranges their words in order to harm and deceive.  The second person is one that comes to God’s house in the spirit of fear and mercy to worship God.  These two people are total opposites.
Notice what God says about the bloody and deceitful man in verse 6.  He will destroy him.  Strong words from a loving God.  Sometimes my flesh will try to rise up and do the actions of the first person.  I then have to realize that the things that bark like a dog, act like a dog, scratch like a dog, and lives like a dog……is probably a dog.  If I do not want to be the man in verse 6, then I should not act like him.  Even when I feel wronged or deceived, remember that God “has your back”.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Pro 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Notice what the man in verse 7 does, he goes where God is and worships Him.  When you feel like you have been wronged, remember that God will take care of you.  I remember the first time I felt that Joy was being mistreated.  It was in a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.  I totally reacted instead of being calm.  I was yelling and screaming and almost broke “some things”.  I will spare you the details and spare me the embarrassment by saying that when I felt my daughter’s pain and anguish; I was about to come “unglued” on some “folk”.  God, our Heavenly Father, is the same way.  When we come to Him instead of taking matters into our own hands, He will take care of us.

Bro. CW’s challenge for today:

Don’t re-act to evil and bloody men, go to where God is and let Him take care of you!

What are you looking at?

Psa 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psa 5:4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. I think the last part of verse 3 is interesting, notice the words “and will look up”.

Why is it important for the Psalmist to look up? Is it really that important to look up while I pray? While these questions go through my mind, these next few thoughts come to me: Looking up when I pray, signifies where I place my faith for my prayers to be answered. I believe where I put my faith is a choice. It is something that I decide to do. Can anyone really explain how God exists? Where He came from? Who gave Him His power? No one person can logically explain it, other than making statements that we accept from the Bible…by faith. Faith is a decision on WHO I WILL BELIEVE. Everyone is given a measure of faith from God.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

When we look up to Heaven, we signify who are faith is in. I do not believe that we need to look up to Heaven, but rather I am just emphasizing that we choose where we put our faith. What is my point? Where we look to first for our answers, is really where we put our faith. Where do you look? Do you look to a family member, job, bank account, government, a senior saint, etc. ? God wants you to look to HIM.

Notice also that the next verse tells that God does not take pleasure in wickedness or evil. The first word in verse 4 starts out with a Preposition. This indicates a continuation of thought. Wickedness and evil work opposite of faith. When someone participates in either one, it hinders their faith in God. The last thing that I need is for my faultering faith (I feel sometimes) to be hindered. Have you ever felt that your faith faulters? If not, you must be perfect. When a christian wants to increase their faith, they will stay away from wickedness and evil.

Bro. CW’s challenge for today: Who you cry to first in a need is whom you trust the most. Where will you look to when a need arises? Will you stay away from faith hinderers?