Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11
Psalm 20 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners!
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
"The focus of David's cry for help was the Name of the Lord, which he knew had power. Any hope for conquest, and all protection, support, and help, come only from that Name. The most formidable weapons of the ancient world were impotent against the Name of the Lord."
It is staggering to think how much power there is in only the NAME of our God! If simply his NAME has that much power...can you even imagine how much power he possesses? His name is our protection. As the song says, "There is strength in the name of the Lord..."
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...
"Christians have a race to run, a race of service and a race of sufferings, a course of active and passive obedience.
This race must be run with patience and perseverance. There will be need of patience to encounter the difficulties that lie in our way, of perseverance to resist all temptations to desist or turn aside. Faith and patience are the conquering graces, and therefore must be always cultivated and kept in lively exercise."
We have this great "cloud of witnesses" to encourage us, but we also have an even greater example; Jesus Christ.
"He is the author of their faith; not only the object, but the author. He is the great leader and precedent of our faith, he trusted in God; he is the purchaser of the Spirit of faith, the publisher of the rule of faith, the efficient cause of the grace of faith, and in all respects the author of our faith."
John 1:9-11 The true light, which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
It is tragic that the very people who had waited for centuries for their Messiah rejected him when he arrived.
"Rather than repenting of sin and believing that Jesus was Messiah, they eventually screamed, 'Crucify Him!...His blood shall be on us and on our children!' (Matt. 27:23,25)." What a sobering proclamation!
But God's work in the crucifixion and atonement was sovereign. And today, there are still those who reject the atoning work of Christ. None so sadly, though, as the ones to whom he originally appeared.
Let us hold fast to our faith.
Let me find strength and power in your name, as the Psalm proclaims. Let that be constantly at the front of my mind; at the focus of my meditations during this coming week. Your name is power. "Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water..." Hallelujah!
Thank you for giving me faith to believe. Let that faith remain constant in me as I run this race. I pray for a strong finish.
Grace and peace, friends.