Breaking News - Urgent Prayer Need. Speculation is that the President is close to brokering an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that will allow him to announce a resumption of the long-stalled Middle East peace talks before the end of September. One of the apparent keys to this agreement is a promise by the United States to adopt a much tougher line with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. We lift up this critical process and our nation's leaders in guiding America's important relationship with Israel and the state of Middle East relations.
1-2 Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing!
Sing to God�worship God!
2-3 Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea,
Take the news of his glory to the lost,
News of his wonders to one and all!
4-5 For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.
His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap;
Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.
5-6 God made the heavens�
Royal splendor radiates from him,
A powerful beauty sets him apart.
7 Bravo, God, Bravo!
Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.
8-9 Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees�everyone worship!
10 Get out the message�God Rules!
He put the world on a firm foundation;
He treats everyone fair and square.
11 Let's hear it from Sky,
With Earth joining in,
And a huge round of applause from Sea.
12 Let Wilderness turn cartwheels,
Animals, come dance,
Put every tree of the forest in the choir�
13 An extravaganza before God as he comes,
As he comes to set everything right on earth,
Set everything right, treat everyone fair. (The Message)
"Religion which meets with the approbation of the multitude is not necessarily the true religion, for then the judgment formed by the Psalmist must have fallen to the ground at once, if religion were a thing to be determined by the suffrages of men, and his worship depended upon the caprice."
In other words, just because the church is huge doesn't mean they are necessarily doing it right in God's eyes. Mass popularity does not equal doctrinal soundness.
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"The Good Fight of Faith"
1 Timothy 6:11-12
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (ESV)
First of all, I want to remember what are "these things" that Paul is telling Timothy to flee. Looking back, I see that the previous paragraph is the one referring to the love of money. That puts this in context a little better.
We have to think that Timothy probably alread knew all of the things that Paul is writing about here, and that this letter was largely just a reminder of the things that Timothy should be thinking about and doing. It is also likely that the letter was read to the whole church in Ephesus, and not just intended for Timothy's eyes only.
Therefore, the instructions in the verses for today could be seen to be applicable to all men, not just Timothy. There are similar instructions in Galatians 5:22-23 and 2 Peter 1:3-8. In fact, Dr. John MacArthur says that "the man of God is known by what he: (1)flees from (v.11); (2)follows after (v.11); (3)fights for (v. 12); and (4)is faithful to (vv. 13,14)."
I like these encouraging words: "None of us is so far advanced in our sanctification that we do not need encouragement to press on, and no stumbling saint has fallen so far that he cannot be placed back in the race through a word of exhortation."
"Planned Prayer"
Psalm 109:4
In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer. (ESV)
"We need to set aside time each day for planned, protracted, persevering prayer. We need to lay before the Lord any areas of persistent sin in our lives such as gossip, irritability, impatience, lack of love, and impure thoughts." Irritability is a sin?? Uh-oh. Boy am I in trouble...
We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to enable us to deal with these areas of sin in our lives.
John Murray said, "The believe is not endowed with a reservoir of strength from which he draws. It is always 'by the Spirit' that each sanctified and sanctifying activity is exercised." If I understand what he means, there, it is that there is not just a "pool" of strength that is there for us to draw from, but that we need to renew our strength daily by prayer and supplication, appropriating new, fresh power every day from the Spirit.
"Holiness requires continual effort on our part and continual nourishing and strengthening by the Spirit." Odds are, however, that if we don't plan to do it, it won't get done.
I am thankful for the encouraging words that insist that we always have a way to get back on the path of following you, no matter how far we've strayed. But also let us never think that we have gotten so holy that we don't need encouragement from other believers. We always need that. I know this to be true, from experience. I would trade nothing for gathering with the saints on a regular basis. I gain great strength and encouragement from being around others who share my faith in you.
7 Bravo, God, Bravo!
Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.
8-9 Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees�everyone worship!
Bravo, indeed! Reminds me of a Ziggy cartoon in the Sunday paper many years ago. It depicted Ziggy standing on a hillside watching a sunrise (or could have been a sunset, I guess), and he simply said, "Go, God!!" Nothing wrong with cheering for God, eh?
Grace and peace, friends!