HisSong

Jesus said that whatever comes out of a man's mouth is what defiles him. I believe He meant that when we speak whatever satan puts in our hearts, we are not resisting temptation and so we are allowing ourselves to be defiled by sin. Our tongue is a door to our hearts; whatever is in there is just going to come out! So in taming our tongue we are also taming our flesh, because when we make a point to control our tongue we are resisting satan. It is promised that if we resist him, he will flee. By resisting him in controlling what we say, we are cleansing our thoughts from impurity, taking every thought captive. Also, what our tongue is doing is more visible to the world and affects others, sometimes harming them. The Lord would not have us harm others, so we must learn to control our tongues. Help me, Lord!

The "perfect law" is the law of the Spirit, the law of love that God has poured out on His by His grace and forgiveness that we give to others (if we're obedient to do so!). This perfect law is to love and treat others as we would like to be loved and treated; this includes people we do not like. In so doing, we are loving God, because He is love! The perfect law is also the Royal Law because it was bestowed on us by the King of Kings. It brings us liberty because it breaks the bonds of hatred and selfishness that satan would have us live in. "O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever..."

I believe we, as humans, are prideful and blind to our sins by nature; in James' words,"deceiving ourselves." Satan is very clever in that he makes us see ourselves better than we are and keeps the world's clamor and distractions so great before us that we are unable to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we hear the Word of God. It is able to pierce our souls, but we must put down our fleshly armor and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, by first confronting ourselves and examining ourselves.

This question has given rise to more questions for me and how "word" and "truth" relate to other passages and what the original Greek words are. For example: Jesus is spoken of as the "Word" in John 1, 1 John 5:7, and Jesus refers to Himself as "Truth." There is some deep mystery here, I believe, that reveals the nature of Jesus in His relationship with God and the Holy Spirit. I wish I had a English/Greek Bible! This has inspired me to get one and to see if the words for word and truth in the passages I just spoke of are the same Greek word. Anyway, despite all this, Jesus' message is simple: the words He spoke that He commanded us to live by that are written for us in the Bible (believing He is the Son, confessing sins, repentance, baptism, etc.) are those heart actions which the Lord sees in us and which causes Him to bestow spiritual birth to us. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." With this "birth" begins our spiritual "life," and as with our fleshly life we must nourish it to grow, we must also nourish our spirit so that we grow in our spiritual life (keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, walking in the light as He is in the light, hearing the word and doing it, asking God for wisdom, loving God and others, etc.). How do we accomplish these heart choices in our spiritual life? They are directly related to the Word. "And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." The Word is our spiritual nourishment so that we may grow. "...as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need somone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

The promise to claim is that if we ask God for wisdom, it will be given to us, liberally and without any reproaching. The condition is that we must ask in faith, knowing fully that we will receive His wisdom. Trials help us receive wisdom because it is in trials that we are brought to a place where we know what to ask for. We are stripped of all pretense and faced with real need whose fulfillment can only come from Jesus Christ and His power: need for knowledge of what decision to make, need for physical, mental, and/or spiritual healing, need for cleansing from sin so that we may repair a damaged relationship, etc.

I think there are two different kinds of trials: one is the trial that arises from our sin, possibly the natural "consequences." Two is the trial that arises from "life," from no sin that we have committed. The trial that arises from our sin, the wrestling of spirits within us, the painful conviction we feel in us, makes our hearts raw and, if we come to a place of humility, we turn to the Lord and He shows us our sin. It is then we can confess this sin, pray for the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from this sin, bring down the stronghold, and cure us of our double-mindedness. When we see the fruit of this labor in the Spirit, our faith will become stronger in that we will see that Jesus is faithful to answer our prayer and to help us overcome our sin. But our faith can also be grown through the trial that comes in everyday living, not necessarily from our sin. Sometimes things come into our lives that the Lord can use to build our faith in Him. For example, if we become ill or laid off from our jobs, we can rest in Him and know that though our bodies fail us or we struggle financially, He is our hiding place; we can cry on His shoulder and beg His help in persevering through this trial. He is our Comfort and our Shelter in the walk through the "valley of the shadow of death," and will put a peace our hearts that passes all understanding despite the trial.

I believe people blame God for evil because they have no faith and are listening to the lies of satan. Satan's goal is to dishonor the Lord and so he places lies in peoples' hearts to accomplish that goal. God does not tempt us with evil, but He allows it. I believe His desire is to turn things around on satan. If the Lord is allowed to use evil circumstances and temptations caused by satan to cause something good, like spiritual growth, then that is the ultimate victory!! The Lord does not tempt sinful people with evil, but He allows them free will to choose evil or good. As the Bible says: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. And God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." People are given both choices. He allows people to sin because He allows them choice. He finds no pleasure in forcing people to do His will; He desires our hearts and love and obedience out of love for Him. He allows evil to exist because, once again, He allows us to choose: Him or satan.

The value trials have had in my life is that they have helped me realize that the Lord is trying to teach me things! Also, I have come to know that the Lord holds my times in His hands and that is a comforting thought when I am struggling through a trial. Because I finally got it through my head about the purpose of trials, when I go through one, I am now able, by the grace of God, to ask myself what He is trying to get me to learn? If we can stop the panic or anger at the onset of a trial long enough to think through and search the Spirit about what we could learn, I believe that that is taking our thoughts captive and disabling satan in his work. Although I dread the refining process, I know that somehow the Lord will use the trial to strengthen my faith and perfect me in Jesus Christ! That is a huge change from a few years ago - thank you Jesus!

I love this! There have been times in my life where I knew the Lord was allowing satan to buffet me to mold and refine me. When I felt that I couldn't take much more, I could almost sense Him saying, "Enough," then putting His hand around me and keeping me sheltered from any further buffeting. Other times, I know my family, friends, or myself would have come to bodily or some other harm had the Lord not interfened. In that way, He guards us constantly! I know there are countless times where He has shielded someone from trouble and they don't even realize it. I felt bad that He took care in caring for that person with nothing in return. I want to always be mindful of His guarding myself and my family and friends and take just a moment to say "thank you, Jesus, for keeping us and loving us."

God is a Rock in these verses because high rocks were used as hiding places and where people built fortresses. Rocks (I think these verses refer to what we'd refer to as a "mountain.") served as fortresses and places of safety during military flight (as in David's flight from King Saul) or seige. Also, I keep thinking of the shade from the sweltering sun that a rock could provide.

God is our shield from satan's attacks. If we abide in the Lord's truth and His Word, we can ward off temptations to sin. The Lord is our glory in that we can say to satan when he attacks that "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I will stand in Him and in His promises." We can boast in the Lord and in what He has done for us! The Lord is the lifter of our heads in that when satan attacks with despondency and depression, we can say "He is with me always, even to the end of the age." Third Day has a song on their latest album "Wherever You Are" that states: "Even though the journey's long, and I know the road is hard, well, the One who's gone before me, He will help me carry on. After all that I've been through, now I realize the truth, that I must go through the valley to stand upon the mountain of God." The Lord has encouraged me so much with this song just knowing that if we can persevere in Him and hold on, eventually we will see Him. That hope in Jesus lifts my head! I've learned that God loves us so much. He created us on purpose, with a purpose, knowing that we would turn away from Him time and again. Still He waits for us to abide in the shadow of His wings so that He can give us victory in Jesus! He longs for us to say, "Abba, Father," and to let Him be our Protector in this life. I learn in Psalm 90 that I am weak: I need Jesus! We all need Him, but so many of us are deceived by satan into thinking we can control our lives. It doesn't take long to realize (if we will allow it) that we have little or no control over anything in this life. I'd rather let the Creator of the universe control things - He loves me and has my good at heart!

We who are protected by God are to "abide" in Him and trust in Him by making Him (allowing Him to be) our "dwelling place," our home. Metaphors used in Psalm 91 for God's protection are "shadow," "refuge," "fortress," "covering of feathers," "under His wings," "shield and buckler," and "dwelling place."

The significance of confessing "Jesus is Lord" is that one is declaring Him Lord of their life, giving Him the place of honor in their heart - God's place. This is necessary for salvation because the Word says so! But when you think about it, we must confess and believe, because in doing this, we are giving the Lord free reign of our lives. How else will His will be done unless we allow it? He does not force us to follow His will, but waits for us to submit to it.

The implications for government are that they need to realize that they answer to a Higher King - they are simply a servant of the Lord. The implications of removing God from currency, pledges, etc., are that the government that condones this, even encourages this, is in direct rebellion to their Suzerain. They are removing their nation from under His protection and declaring war on the King of Kings.

The personal implications of Yahweh being my King and Jesus being sent from God is that everything Jesus says is from God and to be obeyed because if we have seen Him, then we have seen the Father; they are One. The advantages of being a subject of Yahweh is that He is merciful!! To submit to the King everyday means to seek His will at every moment, to weigh all things by His Spirit, to do good works out of love for Him and for His creation. One rejects Him from being King over their lives by seeking their own selfish desires, never striving to please Him, and never repenting of sin.