rejoice Archives – Sonshine's Journal

September 6, 2024September 6, 2024

God Protects

Psalm 98 God protects His faithful followers

Do you have a busy day ahead? Do you face timelines and people with tempers flaring? Does the news set you on edge? The psalm 98 is a perfect psalm for you to start the day.

You who love the Lord, hate evil!He protects the lives of his faithful followers; he delivers them from the power of the wicked.

Over and over through the centuries we see the proof of these words. Yes, there are times when God allows evil to triumph, but it is short lived and the evil doers do meet their doom. The story of Esther is proof that God protects His own and takes down the Haman’s of this world.

Further the psalmist wrote: You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord. Give thanks to his holy name.

What a wonderful psalm to start the day as we move from place to place in traffic.

June 8, 2016

Are You Drifting?

hebrews 2 drifting dreamstime In chapter one of Hebrews, as believers in Christ, the author encourages us to rejoice in our Savior because he is the radiance of God’s glory. We extol his name and we praise him in song in word in the assembly of the righteous,

BUT….. here are the questions before us:

What do we do when we leave that assembly?
Do we leave our praise there or do we carry it with us in our quiet time as well as our work-a-day world?

Jesus came in human form to suffer death to release us who were enslaved to the one who had the power and fear of death. Jesus came to overcome so that he might bring us to glory where before the Father he will call us brothers and sisters. The cost was exorbitant, the pain was great, the temptations were without measure—he did it all for us. That is why we must not drift; we must not neglect this great salvation.

This is the message that we must carry with us in word and deed: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,” [1Cor 15] It was first announced by Jesus then confirmed to others who then passed this on to us through the gifts of the Holy Spirit for one reason: we might carry the message to the next generation.as Psalm 78 encourages us to do!

“We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,”

Are you tethered or drifting?

Photo: Dreamstime

December 19, 2013

Satan’s Defeat and Christ’s Promise

In 1903 a Sikh named Sundar Singh struggled to know the truth. After he grew he became bitter and angered at God but on this day, 19 December 1903, he began to pray that God would reveal himself—if he really existed. If not, Sundar planned to throw himself in front of the morning train. For seven hours he prayed. “O God, if there is a God, reveal yourself to me tonight.” As he prayed a man appeared before him with nail-pierced hands, saying, “How long will you deny me? I died for you; I have given my life for you.” He knew it was Christ. From that point on until his death he proclaimed the truth of the gospel message even in the midst of hardship and persecution in the Tibetan region.

As we read the words of Revelation we are reminded of this one man and countless others who gave their lives to serve and to reach the lost with the gospel message. Today as we read Revelation chapter 12 we find solace in one thing and that is once again God’s mercy is overflowing to the ones who recognize the Son of God as the Messiah. He will protect them and prepare a special place just as he did for Sundar in his travels about India and Tibet. He remained uncompromising in his faith and his walk for Jesus. And we must do that as well.

In the future miracles will prove that there are true believers through three acts/attitudes (1) the blood of the Lamb which they now know is their cleansing of sin, (2) the word of their testimony, (3) they did not love their lives so much that they would want to preserve it but rather will be willing to suffer and die for His Name’s Sake.

If we are faithful the words of Jesus will be a living reality: permission to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God, not be harmed by the second death, the hidden manna and a new name written in glory, authority over nations, a new white garment and his name forever etched in the book of life, and to join Christ upon his throne. [Rev 2&3]

We must be about the business of sharing and praying for the many who are even today being martyred for all of these three things. Are you/am I prepared to be an overcomer this day? Cling to His promise: I will protect you and I will never leave you nor forsake you.

August 22, 2013

Do You Have a Battle Strategy?

Romans 8:

One of the greatest privileges a believer in Christ has is his freedom from condemnation, both here and in the afterlife. Freed from the rules and regulations of the Law, the believer is freed to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and guidance regarding the standards of the Commandments. Today, in Romans 8 Paul continues his dialog with both Jew and Greek as to how to live as we face the battles between the flesh and the new nature. The battle begins in the mind and is carried out in one’s life.

Point 1: Know that you are no longer condemned by the law of sin. We are free in Christ to walk in newness of life.

Point 2: We will face struggles here until we leave for eternity. Therefore, we need to set our minds on the things of the Spirit not on the things of the flesh. The mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God and brings only death. The mind set on the Spirit is pleasing towards God and brings life. Our attitudes and actions reveal which one we have chosen.

Point 3: Our empowering comes from the Holy Spirit who illuminates our spirit to the things of God. In addition, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness by reminding us of our new walk, of what is sin, what is displeasing to God through conviction in our spirit. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer at the throne of God with groanings that cannot be uttered by man. The Holy Spirit searches our hearts to see where we are astray and to redirect us. Lastly, not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for us in prayer but He intercedes for us according to the will of God because He knows the will of God whereas sometimes we are either ignorant or unwilling to accede.

Point 4: Paul has led us through this maze of thoughts to bring us to the crux of this whole issue which is what our total perspective should be as one changed from the inside out. Whereas the enemy seeks to undermine and to destroy, the Holy Spirit seeks to encourage. We are no longer condemned; therefore no one has the right or privilege to be against us spiritually speaking; no one or nothing can separate us from the love of God; and lastly through all tribulations we now can overwhelmingly rejoice and be conquerors.

So the question is why are we wringing our hands and weeping when we should be rejoicing? We are more than conquerors through Christ once we realize the battle begins in the mind and is transferred to our actions and attitudes.

This graphic, courtesy of David Austin, former Exec Direc of bible.org shows how this works.