Baptist City Blog

 

- Wednesday, 7/18/18  Psalm 31:3, For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. To each of us, I-me-my-mine is the person we’re concerned with the most. However, remember that God’s reputation will take a hit if we fall, stumble, fail, wander, or quit. After all He’s done for us...is it worth it? And each of us has a different “it” that is coming between us and Him. Deal with IT.                          Psalm 30:9, What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? A challenge (not to the faint-hearted): Carefully analyze what God now, and His work now would be lacking if you were taken to Heaven. Would He notice a lessening in the volume of praise? Would the “Scoreboard of Souls” show a lessening rate? Would a SS class weep and mourn and wonder how a job would be filled? Would a church remember you and where you sat 6 months hence? Would the number of those who maybe fell by the wayside increase as your weekly influence and testimony were missed? Would a few protégés step forward and assume the mantle that you dropped? If you died today, would God’s work notice? (OUCH!)

 

- Thursday, 7/19/18  Psalm 33:11, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. A plain command, but one that is seldom obeyed, at least in my life. Need a reason? V1-2, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.                         We (I) often want clear distinct instructions and guidance from the Lord. We all know His is a “still small voice,” which is why we oftentimes fail to discern it amidst the noise of most of our lives. However, consider Psalm 32:8, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.  Eye guidance requires even more attention than hearing a voice. Maybe if He’s “being silent; ignoring me” we need to stop dead in our tracks and focus on His face: what is He looking at? A sin in our lives? A person needing forgiveness or encouragement? A soul needing a soul winner? Is He looking at His child who has become a stranger in his Father’s house? He’s a good Daddy...the lack of direction is not His fault.

 

- Friday, 7/20/18  Psalm 70:2, Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. Remember that the best “revenge” on your oppressors is to simply not quit or slow down. Confuse them with your resolve, and baffle them with your love and forgiveness.                             One of Satan’s tactics is to play on our pride, our desire for self-importance. He’ll tell and convince us that our situation is unique: “No one has ever had it as hard as you! So, no one down at the church can understand what you’re going through, and the Preacher doesn’t have the answer; he’s confounded.” Or, he’ll tell us that we’re special; we can handle the same temptation that has done people in for centuries. Or, he’ll convince of the sincerity of those who are trying to get us to do wrongly: “If you go along with this little thing, they’ll listen to you give them the Gospel later.” Satan is a liar from Day 1, and he is “the father of lies.” Each of us is unique, but we’re no different from the next guy. Psalm 33:14-15a, From the place of his habitation [God] looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike.  Again we are unique, but we’re not different.

 

- Saturday, 7/21/18  Psalm 71:7, I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge. People may brag on you and admire you for “being strong in the struggle,” but make sure that you know Who has been the strong One; Who has supplied the calcium for your backbone. Let them brag on you; you deflect the praise upwards.                        Hebrews 5:2, [The human high priest] can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. Leaders, do you have compassion on your followers, or frustration because “they know better!” Do you actively remember that they’re frail sinful creatures...like you? Or, have you forgotten that you’re still a sinner despite having a title? (And lest any criticize me for this post...99% of my posts are issues over which the Lord got my attention first. I don’t “preach at” anyone; I relay what was preached to me from above.)

 

- Sunday, 7/22/18  Psalm 35:4, Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Your enemies may not be trying to hurt you, per se, or get your stuff. Their goal may be to break your spirit; the essence of your Christianity. Don’t lose your testimony in the battle: be sweet and forgiving.                           Psalm 73:1, Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Is your heart CLEAN, or just CLEANER than another’s? One comes through humility and one through pride. Once prompts continued action and one promotes being satisfied. One produces praise toward God and one prompts praise toward self.

 

- Monday, 7/23/18  Proverbs 15:14, The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. Perhaps a good indication of our godliness is the amount of questions that we ask. (Read the verse again.)                                  Psalm 73:3, But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There is a huge danger in seeing how the better half lives. Don’t spend a lot of time looking at houses/neighborhoods better than yours; dreaming about vacations you can’t afford; gazing at spouses “better than” yours. Envy almost destroyed the psalmist. Strive to be content with your situation.

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- Ps 75:10, All the horns of the wicked will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. PTL that the wicked will not have influence and a voice for much longer, for they will be replaced with the righteous. We should look up and ahead and not down and around at what is going on.

 

- Luke 4:1, And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. When filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, we can expect to be led into areas of trials and testing until we have passed the test and proven ourselves, and He did that.

 

- Ps 78:35, And they remembered that God was their rock and the high God their redeemer. I would hope that God could get our attention and keep it without such harsh methods.

 

- Luke 4:28, And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things were filled with wrath. Conviction will either cause repentance or hatred in the heart of the hearer.

 

- Ps 78:9, When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel. We’d better keep God in a good humor! It’s not a pleasant place to be when His patience wears out.

 

- When we are strong, we pray less, when we are weak, we pray more. The only thing that may rid us of this bipolar Christianity is a chronic thorn in the flesh.

 

- Do not feel guilty if you are unable to make giant leaps of faith. The Christian life is never called a leap. It is called a walk. Just keep walking even if your steps seem small compared to others.

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- If you want God to close and open doors, let go of the doorknob.

 

- "I feel used."  This will always be a bad feeling if you are resource-less. This will be a good feeling if you are resource-full. If I use all my resources on me, I may have little or none for others. When they "draw" on me, I will feel used and abused. If I reserve my resources for others, I will have reserves. When they "draw" on me, I will feel used in a good way, for I was prepared!

 

- "I wish my life was perfect." Jesus' life was perfect and it got Him crucified. It's probably a good thing we don't get everything we want.

 

- “I don’t submit to my husband because I want to. I don’t want to. I don’t submit to my husband because I like to. I don’t like to. I don’t submit to my husband because it makes me feel good. It doesn’t make me feel good. I submit to my husband because the Scriptures command me to. I do it out of obedience to Christ.” ~Elisabeth Elliot  "Having a wife like this causes me to humbly bow in her presence." ~James Scott

 

- The level of my growth in grace is directly determined by how much grace I am willing to extend to that person who has hurt me the most.

 

- My motivation for getting back up was seeing the wasted lives of those who didn't.

 

- Someone once attempted to slam me by saying, "If I had your father I would have taken better advantage of the opportunities he gave you."  I replied, "If you are saved, then you do have my Father. How are you doing with the opportunities that HE has given you?" He blocked me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh, well. It is God who gives us our opportunities and no matter what we have experienced or done, we all have plenty of opportunities if we stop comparing ourselves to others.

 

- We never really know how much anyone else is hurting. We could be standing next to somebody who is completely broken and wouldn’t even know it. Be sensitive to everyone around you today. You never know the one God has placed in your path who needs your kindness.

 

- Often we notice the things people do for us only after they are no longer there doing those things for us.

 

- Many Christians are lying on the side of the road having been left for dead by the church. They have been trodden upon by elder brother church members and pastors, not because God does not want them, but because we don't.

 

- To anger a conservative lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.

 

- 100 pianos tuned to the same key are automatically tuned to each other. Unity is not achieved through our efforts to be like minded, but it is achieved through Christ-likeness.