Tuesday January 17, 2017

Thoughts on Psalm 27:1, 5, 8

Psalm 27:1 The lord is the stronghold of my life- Of whom shall  be afraid?

Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;  he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face Lord, I will seek.

We all have sinned and fallen short. And for many, their sins are burden that they carry for many years. But this is not the life that our Heavenly Father wants you to live. I carried the heavy chains of a sinful past life. A life lived for what I wanted, not worrying who I hurt in the process.

I lived in the darkness of my sins. I felt comfortable in the dark. I lived a lie. I lived in the dark because I did not want others to see the real me. But I finally fell into the hole that I had been digging for a long time. Even in the bottom of that hole, God came in and His Glorious Light shown all around.

God took me out of the hole and into the Light of His love and grace. I began to truly believe and understand that what He had said thousands of years ago, that He would not leave me or forsake me. He took the chains of my sins and set me free. Today the Lord is my stronghold. My past sins have been forgiven, and I am a new person. I now see the Lord Jesus Christ as my stronghold. Staying in His word and daily speaking to Him through prayer only strengthens Jesus as a stronghold in my life. I can look at my past sins and no longer be haunted by them. So I do not have to be afraid of them any longer. Even when Satan comes and tells me I am not worthy of God's love, I can rebuke him. With the Lord as my stronghold I have the power to rebuke Satan and his lies!

Many times our sins bring us to a place, because of the heavy burden, that we confess them. And we pay the price for those sins. But even in those times, God takes us into His loving arms. Our confession brings about freedom and an inner peace. Our whole demeanor changes. When I finally confessed my sins, it brought about a prison term. But even in prison, behind the fences, I was free. I was safe inside His dwelling of love and grace. He set my feet upon the rock. The rock of His protection.

In prison He allowed me the time to more truly understand and worship Him as I should. At every turn Christ was there to lead and direct my steps, blessing me all along the way. The time in prison was the time that the Lord took to prepare me for freedom, life outside the fence. And He continues to guide my steps. He is there for me anytime, all I need to call out in prayer. By the Lord living in my heart, my heart desires to commune with my maker. My heart aches each day to hear His loving voice, and that voice quiets the storms in my life.

Now you may wonder where I am going with this. My desire is that you too come to a place where God is the only answer for you. That you call out to Him and allow Him to enter into your heart so that He can set your feet upon the rock of His love and mercy and grace. I was lied to by Satan, telling me that I would never be worthy enough to come to the Lord. But, again, that was a lie. Your Father in heaven is saddened by the fact that you feel that you need to "get better" so that you are worthy to come to Him. We will NEVER be worthy trying to do it on our own! His safe "dwelling and tent" are His mercy and grace that He has for you. Knowing that you can never be worthy, on your own terms, to come to Him, just lay down your sins at His feet and allow Jesus Christ to take you in.  Allow the Rock of His love for you, unconditionally by the way, be what He puts your feet on in order to follow Him without any fear or trembling. By living in His tent, Satan's power will no longer have any control over you. Your past sins are separated from you. Think about it, if are sinless in Gods eyes, Satan no longer has a leg to stand on when it come to condemning you.

By reading His word daily, the power that comes through those words will also be your rock. Putting your trust in those words, their peace and calmness invade your heart and create a loving relationship with the Lord. And you will begin to understand that what you thought about God is not true. He is not the ruthless person that you may have thought Him to be. You will start to enjoy life, because your heart will be dwelling with the Lord on a daily basis. He does love you. Allow His power to overcome the devil, and his lies that he has been spewing from his mouth. Just remember that we CAN NEVER OVERCOME OUR SINS BY OURSELVES! You can only overcome by accepting the Lord as your Savior, and allow the blood that He shed for you on Calvary cleanse you. Jesus died for the world, in which you are a part.