Philippians 3:7

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ”

In Philippians chapter three Paul describes his heritage, training, and the great achievement he had as a Pharisee. They were remarkable, and yet he counts them loss for the knowledge of Christ. Paul had to unlearn the former way of life which is not an easy task. One of the reasons I believe that Paul spend three years of his early ministry in Arabia was to take all his early training and apply the new understanding of Christ to his training. It was probably in these three years that God through his spirit opened the old testament scriptures to Paul to an understanding that changed his walk forever.

It is amazing once we truly seek God and began our journey with Christ as our Lord and Savior how many of our past beliefs just fade away. As we grow in Christ the things of this world are not as important as they once were. Our focus becomes on the things of heaven and presenting the gospel to these of a lost world that does not know Christ. To Paul his past was counted as lost because he found the gift of eternal life. Sometimes we like Paul must get away and let the Holy Spirit works through the scriptures to get us to go in a new direction.

So that Men are without Excuse

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what is made, so that men are without excuse.

A story was told of a man who life’s purpose was to seek after truth but after he found it, he turned away and followed his our heart. This is the story of the men that Paul describes in Romans chapter one.  Paul’s purpose was to present the gospel of God to all, but not all believe.  As we go forth on our journey in this life, we must realize that all men and women will be without excuse on the day of judgment.  We must present the simple truth of the gospel as Paul writes in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

What happens to those that reject the gospel? Their life becomes their own, they become the one who controls every aspect of their life. They become wise in their own eyes, but their hearts become darken and they become fools before God.  God then gives them over to the sinful desires of their hearts.  To me this means God steps out of their life.

Another story was told of a man who life’s purpose was to seek after truth, and when he found it, he realized his sinful nature. But he also found the way of salvation from God.  He could now be made righteous by placing his faith in Jesus Christ.  This was why we live a daily lifestyle that reflects Christ in us as our hope in glory.

There is only two ways. As in Psalm chapter one there is the way of the Righteous or the way of the wicked.  Which story will reflect your life?  The choose is yours.

Set apart from Birth

Paul in Galatians 1:15-17 states “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.” Paul realized that his life was always in God’s hands.  Just as God had chosen the parents of John the Baptist and of Jesus, he also placed Paul in the family in which he would get all the training he needed for the purpose of preaching Christ to the Gentiles.

As I study Paul’s writings, I realized that his one true passion was to preach the gospel of Christ. And when this gospel is presented and believed not only is eternal life guarantee, but a change also takes place in the new believer’s life.  As I study the scriptures it is amazing how God prepares individuals for His purpose. The way of God is beyond our understanding in how He works in His creation.  As Paul realized that his life was always in God’s hand, we as believers must also believe the same.

As we make our journey in this life, we can touch so many lives. Is the presentation of the gospel our one true passion? Is our true focus serving the Lord? Is today a wonderful, beautiful, outstanding day that the Lord has given you no matter the situations around you? God’s message for the world is found in John 3:16 and His patient in this world is not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). Do we reflect the gospel of Christ in our daily walk to others

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7).

This Thanksgiving may the people around me see the real purpose of walking in the way of God. Here in Philippians Paul gives the Philippians the true meaning of living in God’s way and the gift of the peace of God which passeth all understanding. This is the peace that enables all who processes it to weather all the storms of life that comes their way. This peace is easy to achieve and yet so difficult for the us as Christians to achieve in our lives.
Why is this peace so difficult to achieve? Could it be that the human heart does not like passing over the controls of their life to any one including God. Paul knew from his own life how important it was to turn the controls of life over to God. For it was on his way to Damascus to rid the synagogues of the people following this new way that Paul came face to face with Christ. Yes, Paul thought he was doing this task God’s way, and yet he had no peace about it. When Christ confront him, Paul heard these words “I am Jesus whom you persecute it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”. How many times do we go about our religious ways and yet leave out Christ? Check your heart and mind. Do we have the peace of God that passes all understanding in both our hearts and minds?
This Damascus road experience was an important day in Paul’s life. It was the day he learned that the controls of his life had to be turned over to Christ. From this point on the direction of Paul’s life changed. This happens when Christ takes over our life. Let the Spirit of God use the Word of God to guide your life and give you the peace that passes al understanding today. As the great hymn of the faith states “Just trust and obey for there no other way to be happy in Jesus then to trust and obey”.

Thank you for the last 150 days.  The journey of the last one hundred and fifty days was the result of trying to get a handle on understanding how God works in an individual life.  I guess one of most difficult issues that a Christian faces in his or her life is grasping the truth that the God of the Universe can also be a God that can work daily in our individual life.  Christians understand how God worked in shaping David, yet by studying David we can also apply (the way) as portray in Psalm one to our own lives.  Let’s look at David’s life.

As I look at David’s life, I will start out by considering three verse:
Act 13:22
“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”
I Samuel 16:7
“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
I Kings 15:5
“For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”

This was God’s statements about David’s life from the beginning to after his death. Yet as we study David’s life, we can point to several mistakes that he made and yet God view that only in the case of Uriah the Hittite had he failed to keep the Lord’s commands. I love I Kings 15:5 for it gives me the comfort that it is God the Righteous Judge that will be the one who passes judgement on us after our death. As I have spent the last 150 days studying one Psalm a day, I have learned a lot about David’s life and character. I realized that man looks at my outward appearance and actions, but God knows my heart. David reveals this truth in Psalm 139: 1-6
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
As I search for other views on I King 15:5 many other views point out all the mistakes and sins that were in David’s life. Some have difficulty with this verse, however I believe that it points to David’s life as a life that was lived according to God’s way. There were times in David’s life that the presence of God may have seen to be far away, but look at verses 7-12 of Psalm 139:
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

David had a longing for God. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
Is this the longing you have for Him?
As I leave the book of Psalms behind and start on another journey, I pray that I might also have a heart like David a man after God’s own heart.

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

As you read this psalm, I hope you will stop and realized that everything in your world is not “All about Me”. However, as you look at this psalm you will see that we are to praise the Lord. As you look at these verses you will get the picture of a modern church service:

• Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet
• praise him with the harp and lyre
• praise him with tambourine and dancing
• praise him with the strings and flute
• praise him with the clash of cymbals
• praise him with resounding cymbals
• Let everything that has breath praise the LORD

Why Praise God?

       For his acts of power

For his surpassing greatness

What is this surpassing greatness? Paul answers this in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worked all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,– in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

As I finish another reading of the Psalms and Proverbs today, I realize that this month is almost over another month is almost upon me. This month I seasoned my daily readings with the daily devotional by Charles Swindoll title Wisdom for the Way. I found this devotional at the Goodwill store where I buy some of my books. On the inside cover I discovered these words “For Lindsey From the Craig’s May 2001”. The subtitle of this devotional is Wise Words for Busy People. How this book came from the Craig’s to Lindsey and then to me is a mystery, but as I look to the surpassing greatness of God, I realize how God can use a book to influence a person.

On page 62 of this devotional Charles Swindoll starts off the reading by writing “The only way we can come to terms with reality-is by trusting God, regardless.” As I continue to read this devotional, I noticed there were only two paragraphs. The first paragraph centered the words I and me. It is a matter of if I am trusting him, or if I do or don’t allow God in my world as I face each and every issue in my daily routine. The second paragraph centers on the word we. We can’t wait for conditions to be perfect, instead we must go on trusting. This gift of the Craig’s to give Lindsey a treasure to help her along the way is an example of their trusting God to work in her life. Sometimes it might appear that we have fail, however because of the surpassing greatness of God their gift might produce fruit elsewhere. As this simple devotional starts with an individual, the end result because of the surpassing greatness of God will be a group result.

Verse six “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” forces the reader to one conclusion and that is we are to praise the Lord. The journey that begins with the first breathe that a child takes at birth to the last breath we take before we pass from this life to eternity must include the process of praising the Lord.

Psalm 149

¹ Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.
² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
³ Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
⁴ For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
⁵ Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
⁶ May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,
⁹ to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints.
Praise the LORD.

As we study God’s Word some concepts are hard for us to understand. As I study the attributes of God and focus on His goodness and kindness as well as His great mercies that He has impart not only on my behalf but on to all who call on his name, it sometimes becomes difficult for me to picture God as One who will inflict vengeance and carry out the punishment of the sentence that is written against the those that have not called upon his name. Thankfully for me the message I must give to the world is not this message of the future judgment of God against the wicked of this world, but a new song a message of a way of salvation to all who will believe. As I study these verses, I must realize that there will be a time of judgment ahead, but until then there is hope for anyone that still wants to come to Him. In Jude’s book (the second to the last bible of the Bible) in verses twenty-one through twenty-four we are told to keep ourselves in the love of God and have mercy on those who doubt. So, when I am confronted by others to explain how a loving God could be such a God of vengeance, I will explain to them that I am only beginning to understand the workings of God and that some concept about God is still beyond my understanding. I can compare my understanding of the complete nature of God to that of a 3rd grader’s understanding of calculus. Some things are just beyond my understanding. However, by reading Psalm ten I get a picture of how wicked the evil man truly can be.

This psalm ends with a plea for God to arise and take action against the wicked and evil man and call him into account for what he has done. Then this happens to the evil it will become the glory of all his saints. This day will come when the Lord returns. Why the delay? Peter answers this in II Peter chapter three “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. How then should we live “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you”.

But why don’t the wicked see their coming judgment? The answer can be found in Psalm fourteen, Psalm fifty-three, and Romans chapter three.

Psalm 148

¹ Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
⁶ He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.
⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and maidens, old men and children.
¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the LORD.

Many years ago, when my youngest son was in the two-year-old Sunday school class I will lead them in simple songs. One of these was My God is so big, so strong, and so might there nothing my God cannot do. A simple song that had a powerful message. How soon do we forget this message in our daily routines? As soon as the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes, or the pride of life enters our routine we fall back on our strength not His. Then when the trouble comes, we simply forget about God and how He is so big, so strong, and so mighty.

So, hide this song in your heart when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Let go. It not your will, but His will must be done. It not all about me, but it all about Him. The key of living a Christian life is to turn your life over to Him and to become one of His people.

Psalm 147

¹ Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
² The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
⁴ He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
⁶ The LORD sustains the humble: but casts the wicked to the ground.
⁷ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.
⁸ He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;
¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
¹² Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion,
¹³ for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
²⁰ He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.

This is a Psalm describing the one in whom the Lord delights as calling His own. These are the ones that fear him and put their hope in his unfailing love. Does this describe your daily walk with God? This simple faith is referred to as great faith by the Lord in Matthew 15:21-28:

“Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.’ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, ‘Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.’ But He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’ And He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she said, ‘Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once.”

This is the type of faith that we must have in our daily living. In these verses one of the great truths of the Gospel is revealed. Here Christ answered the lady with these words: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in John chapter one we read:  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This is the gospel that save, but do we live by faith. Are we experiencing the greatness of God in our lives daily? Are we putting our hope and trust in the unfailing love of the Creator of this world?

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
² I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³ Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD preserves the sojourners and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
¹⁰ The LORD will reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

If you are like me and read five Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs a day then you are on the last or second to the last day of the month today. These last five psalms are what I call the Praise Psalms. The reading of Psalm 146 reveals to the readers Christ a picture of the promise King. In Christ the reader would have found hope and help from the burdens that encompassed their lives. He would uphold the cause of the oppressed and give food to the hungry. He would open the eyes of the blind and restore health to the broken bodies. He would meet the needs of the fatherless and widows but would frustrate the ways of the wicked. However, when he came to earth two thousand years ago, he became the rejected one that was pictured in Isaiah chapter fifty-three.

Who hath believed our report?

And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:

he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him,

there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:

and we hid as it were our faces from him;

he was despised,

and we esteemed him not.

Surely, he hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows:

yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities:

the chastisement of our peace was upon him;

and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned everyone to his own way;

and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed,

and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth:

he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment:

and who shall declare his generation?

for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death;

because he had done no violence,

neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;

he hath put him to grief:

when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin,

he shall see his seed,

he shall prolong his days,

and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:

by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;

for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

because he hath poured out his soul unto death:

and he was numbered with the transgressors;

and he bare the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

As the readers after the time of Christ look back on the Savior and his work, we have a detail history of his walk found in the Gospels. We are also given the promise of his return. However, with this return we also will see the doing away with the ways of the wicked. With this hope in mind how can we not praise the Lord.