Breaking away from Guilt

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
     3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah . 5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD";
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. 6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. 7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
     8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

Psalms 32:1-9 (NASB95)

Guilt is not necessarily a bad thing.  Like pain is serves us a warning system that something is wrong.  But if we hold on to it, Satan can use it to hinder us and render us useless in Kingdom work.  Psalm 32 gives us some help in breaking away from guilt.

First, we must understand and accept forgiveness.  (Vs. 1-2)  God forgives.  That is really great news!  So don't roll around in your guilt but enjoy and appreciate God's forgiveness.

Second, we must understand and accept conviction.  (Vs. 3-6)  Conviction can be painful and none of us really like it.  But accept it because it is evidence of God's great love for us.  He loves us so much He will not leave us in our sin but brings conviction to draw us back to Him.

Finally understand and accept your security.  (Vs. 7-9)  God is our refuge.  He loves us so much.  We beat ourselves up about our sin.  We should take our sin seriously.  There is an appropriate time for grieving over our sin.  But there is also a time to acknowledge the sin and move on, knowing that God still loves you and is with you and wants to use you.  It is good to rest secure in the love of our savior.

Don't camp in the valley of guilt.  Go through it and come out into the pasture of His love, mercy and grace.

Integrity

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Examine me, O LORD, and try me;
Test my mind and my heart.

Psalms 26:1-2 (NASB95)

David proclaims that he has walked in integrity.  That is an important claim.  We should walk in integrity.  That should be a desire of ours to live that kind of life.  However David doesn't just make the claim.  He takes another step.

He asks God to examine and try him, to look at his mind and his heart.  It is one thing to claim we have integrity it is another to ask God to test us, to examine us to validate our integrity to be real.  As Christ followers we need to to frequently do just that.  Ask God to examine, try and test us and help us to see where we are lacking.

We will have and maintain true integrity when we take time to be examined by our Lord and to repent when we see what is lacking in our life.

A Word for a trying Day

As I prepare to write this blog I have faced several weeks of extremely difficult and trying circumstances.  I took a long look at Psalm 13 to share some thoughts for the Christ Followers on The Disciples Journal.It was good to review it again.  I really wish I had read it before today.

Meditate on the words of the Psalm and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart as He did mine.

Psalm 13

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

1 How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
     3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
     5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalms 13:1-6 (NASB95)

Confidence

The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven;

Psalms 11:4 (NASB95)

Confidence is needed in life.  Our confidence however, is not in ourselves but instead is in God.  The psalmist reminds us that the Lord is on the job.  He is in His temple.  He is in control.  He is on the throne.  When you face the challenges of the day remember that you are not alone.  We serve an awesome God who is all-powerful and righteous.

Live in confidence today!

Consequences of Rebellion

7 The Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought [the harvest] to your house, I ruined it. Why?” [This is] the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.10 So on your account, the skies have withheld the dewand the land its crops. 11 I have summoned a droughton the fields and the hills,on the grain, new wine, olive oil,and whatever the ground yields,on the people and animals,and on all that your hands produce.”

Hag 1:7-11 (HCSB)

I have noticed that we  have this problem, we expect God to bless us even when we rebel agains Him in our lives.  Haggai reminds us what happens when we rebel.  God removes His blessings from us (vs. 9)  It also disrupts our fellowship and relationship with God (vs. 9)  But God also witholds His blessings from us (vs. 10-11)

There's a lesson to be learned here.  God loves us, He forgives us, He shows mercy, but He does not have to bless us even when we rebel.  There are consequences to sin and rebellion.  We must keep that in mind as we make decisions in our lives.

Disaster of Disobedience

Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

Num 14:9 (HCSB)

Disobedience will always bring disaster into our lives.  The Israelites should have learned that.  They had a long history of disobedience that brought disastrous results.  But then again, so do we.  In this passage the people of God are challenged not to make the mistake of disobedience again.  They are given three warnings.

Don't rebel against God.  How simple is that and yet it was so hard for them to acknowledge.  It is for us as well.  Rejoice if you have someone willing to speak into your life these words, "do not rebel against the Lord."

Second, is do not fear.  Fear is a great distractor from obedience.  For the Isrealites it was fear of the people in the land.  For us we have different life challenges.  But the challenge is still the same, "do not fear."  There is also a reminder that God will be with us.

Last, is the challenge not to reject the plans of the Lord.  God had a plan.  He had already promised deliverance and victory.  What was required to walk forward and take the Land in obedience.  Will we follow His plan or try to find our own?