Remember Paul & Silas

Psalm 137 (ESV)

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows* there *(or poplars)
we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

This time, I’m focusing on the first four verses of the psalm. Have you ever messed it all up, fallen so far that you thought you fell too far? Have you ever thrown your hands up and given in? -Or maybe you even gave up…only to find out that’s not what you wanted, or where you wanted to be? When the LORD/Lord brings His love, grace, mercy, peace, and joy to your remembrance, you can’t help but weep-whether it’s for joy, or in mourning for what you left behind, or mourning because you disappointed Him. That last one, disappointing Him, is so painful, isn’t it? Yeah.

It’s then and there that your captors (the devil, his henchmen, and those weaknesses of yours) will taunt and torment you mercilessly! You’ll hear it in your spirit: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” What do you do? Then and there you take your lyre, your guitar, your whatever instrument, and your voice-(and let me tell you, if you can’t sing and just want to play that praise music, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT-because God knows whose heart is calling! DO IT!!! Exactly what the devil wants is for you to be quiet and not praise God. He knows that God inhabits the praises of His people, and when He does, all Hell will be broken loose and off of you! Don’t you dare hang up that Lyre! Praise God, because you can’t disappoint God too much to be forgiven! Get up, dust yourself off, turn back, and RUN into His arms, singing all the way! He loves you! Nothing can separate us from His love for us! (Romans 3:38) Hallelujah! Thank you, LORD/Lord, for loving me! See, now you know why Psalm 136 came before this one. LOL

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You are Zion

Psalm 132: 13-18 (ESV)

13-For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14-“This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15-I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16-Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17-There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18-His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1Cor. 3:16) You are abundantly blessed. God’s Word will satisfy you; every time, all the time! You are clothed with salvation. There is nothing that can overcome you, because you have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). He has overcome the world, and in His Name, we have, and can, too! (John 16:33). Being clothed with salvation also means that we can, and are expected to make a positive difference in this world. (Matt. 5:13-14) Do we shout for joy? Every day! God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet; a light unto our path. (Psalm 119:105) Are you anointed? YES!! (Luke 24:49) You are crowned with God’s glory (mercy, grace, joy, love). (Hebrews 2:9-10)

This is a beautiful reminder of our heritage in Christ Jesus, to hang on the wall. When I first caught this message, I looked up the scriptures that deal with Zion. Oh, what love the Father has for us! And, oh, what joy we will know on that wonderful day! Now do you see who and whose you are? You always been His!

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Sit At My Right Hand

Today’s. message comes to us from Psalm 110. It is an awesome one! I’m reading from the ESV, or course.

“The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” he LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.”

I want to focus on the first verse. “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Not too long ago, I was recalling some of the things I learned at my dad’s right hand. I once told someone that the powerful queens in the world were the ones who sat at their fathers'(kings) elbows, quietly doing their handiwork (embroidery and such), and learning about the business of running a kingdom, while nobody thought they were listening. LOL There’s truth! If you’ll notice, God’s telling us that it is by learning at His right hand that we will triumph over our enemies. We are told to rule in the enemies’ midst. That means we need to know the business of the kingdom, doesn’t it? We need to know everything that God does, and how to do it. We are to shatter those kings (powers, principalities, and hosts of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly realms), execute judgment among the nations, shatter chiefs over the earth, etc. Those chiefs are the same powers principalities, and hosts of spiritual wickedness again, but we need also to be concerned with whom we put in power here on earth, the laws that are enacted, etc. At first glance, someone will say, this is about Jesus, the Lord. It sure is. And, Jesus said it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. Thank, you, Daddy! I’ll be right there with my crochet work!

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Recognize His Glory

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 102. The psalm is a prayer of one in the throes of affliction. “All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,…” (V9) We can see how the enemy wears us down in our weakness. This makes me think of those times when you’re doing that self talk, convincing yourself that God could never forgive you, never love you, or love you after all that, etc. Words like, “stupid, worthless, hopeless, etc.,” come to mind. That’s the enemy taunting you. He loves to put those doubts about God and His love for us into our hearts. He loves to beat us up with lying words. He’ll tell you everything you aren’t. God sees you in Christ Jesus. You are precious and honored in His sight. Precious, because He came to die for you; to pay the price to redeem you from Hell. Honored, because you are created in His image, after His likeness, and He believes in you. If God didn’t believe in you, He wouldn’t have entrusted you to care for His creation; to manage it, and to harness it’s power. And, He hardly would have died to save you from going to Hell, if He didn’t think you could overcome the world and worldliness, and the devil, who rules it.

Verse ten is the one that gets me. Every time I read it, I just want to shout, “No, no, no! God doesn’t pick you up just to throw you down!” We, unfortunately, have this tendency to sabotage ourselves. We squirm and fuss and fight Him, until we slip from His arms and fall. I finally figured out that I need to check myself for self-sabotage when I feeling not in sync with God. This is usually the case whenever I’m stepping into new territory, or moving on to the next level in something. See, that’s the devil pushing your doubt and confusion buttons again.

Verses 16-17 are powerful. “For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.” God always builds you up. He’s never the one who casts you down; we do that to ourselves, or allow others to do that to us. He appears in His glory. This is an important statement. At first glance, you’d think, “Oh, I need to expect bells and whistles, and radiant blinding lights, etc.” God is love, so His glory is love also. Do you know who that little old lady was, that walked with you from her house to the corner of your block when you got lost? Yeah, that was God; His glory resting on that little old lady. That little birdie on the wire, that flirted with me that day a few years back was God. Same thing, His glory on that little bird. That scripture in Philippians 4:8 comes to mind. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” These things are some of the things that make up God’s glory. They’re all in His character. We need to learn to look more closely at those little, seemingly insignificant things and events. God is in everything; and is everything. His glory fills the earth.

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Then You’ll Be Established There

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 87. It speaks of a city standing, established, on God’s holy mountains. As I read the psalm, I think of growing in the knowledge of the LORD/Lord, and in my relationship with Him. It fills me with such peace and a tremendous joy inside.

“On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush — “This one was born there,” they say. And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. The LORD records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” When you look at yourself in the spirit, you can see how like Zion you are. Spiritually, it’s where you and God meet; where the divine in you becomes evident, and you are secure in it. It’s you at your best, your most beautiful, most victorious…it’s you when you get it right. The glorious things spoken of you happen in Heaven, where your name is known. All that happens when you realize, accept, and embrace that all your springs are in Him. (John 4:14) “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” I hope this blesses you as much as it does me-every time I read it.

PS Gautama Buddha said it this way: “When you know for yourselves that this is unskillful, and that skillful, this blameworthy and that blameless, this deprecated by the wise because it conduces to suffering and ill, and that praised because it conduces to well-being and happiness, when you know this, you will reject the one, and make a practice of the other.” Then, you’ll be established there.

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How Beautiful On That Mountain

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 48. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! Verses 1-3 of the psalm God’s holy mountain, beautiful in loftiness is mentioned. Mount Zion, the city of the Great King is referred to. *In the Hebrew Bible, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are both referred to as Zion. Other religions use the word Zion to mean “utopia” or “holy place.”*

God’s Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, is where we, through Jesus, have access to the Father. He is a priest and King after the order of Melchizadek. Melchizedek means King of righteousness, and King of Salem means King of peace. (Hebrews 7:25-26) That place is where the presence of God is, and we truly do come away beautiful in loftiness from there-every time we enter in. In speaking of far north, we have to look up and down-seeing Heaven as far North, and hell as South. (Spiritual realms) *two (temporal and spiritual) realms-one being a shadow of the other. Heaven is the fortress there, that we can boldly access when we need to. (Ephesians 3:12) Verses 4-8 give us an idea of what happens when those kings (powers and principalities, and hosts of spiritual wickedness) see us up there. (Eph. 6:12), (Luke 10:19-20) Verse 9 bids us to contemplate God’s steadfast love within the temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Just this verse will change your whole life if you let it. Verses 12-14 will make you leap for joy. “March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers, consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.” *another version says “He will be our guide beyond death/guide us beyond death. (ESV) A citadel is a fortress that commands. A rampart is a protective barrier. One of the definitions of tower is to rise or reach a great height. There are places in the Bible where, I believe, Zion refers to the children of God. So, whenever we spend time in the presence of God, and as often as we study and walk according to His Word, we are growing into exactly that kind of “city.” (Matt. 5:14) Now are you getting a picture of awesome YOU?! Hallelujah! And we’re to tell the next generation, “This is God!” “This is what God has done, and is doing in my life and yours!” When we do this, we’re not only being obedient, but we’re sowing seeds of hope, fearlessness, and boldness toward God, and about the things of God. Just think-if our children could feel such joy and peace, and grow like that whenever they enter our presence…The world might be changed tremendously overnight.

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Only You Know The Answer

Today’s message comes to us from Psalms and Proverbs 13. In this one, King David is asking some questions. Psalms 13:1 asks the question: “How long, O, LORD? Will you forget me forever? (Isaiah 49:16) God tells us: “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. *When you think about your soul being a city, this applies; God’s speaking of Zion. The next question is “How long will you hide your face from me? God says, “How long will you keep your eyes closed and your back turned to me?” (Ezekiel 12:22) Now we’re getting into that pity party…”How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” God’s answer: “How long do you want to?” (John 5:6) And, here comes the finger-pointing, blame game, excuses, excuses…”How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” God’s answer: “How long will you bow to him?” He’s been condemned (John 16:11), and He can, and will be driven out (John 12:31) You know the answer to that one, because you have, in Jesus’ Name, authority over him. The above answers are all TRUTH.

Now, King David prays, “Consider and answer me, O LORD, my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘”I have prevailed over him.”‘ We know the answer to that one too, don’t we? Yes! Read (Luke 6:46-49) and (Isaiah 61) This is the WAY.

Oh, wait! What’s the last verse in this Psalm? “But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” That’s right; it’s a done deal! Sing to the LORD a new song. We don’t sing dirges, we sing Praises! And, Hallelujah! This is LIFE!
Proverbs 13:4 tells us that the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. So seek God and delve into His Word. Proverbs 13:9 tells us that the wicked will lose their light and be left in darkness. So, don’t fret yourself over them. Seek God and praise Him because you know who wins in the end. Proverbs 13:17 tells us the faithful messenger brings healing. Is God’s Word a faithful messenger? Finally, Proverbs 13:24 tell us that the rod of reproof is crucial. God’s rod of reproof, corrects us, showing us our error, and how to do it right. We are disciplined, or discipled to seek God and learn from Him, the truth, the way, and the life.

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One Step At A Time

Today’s message from God Calling – A. J. Russell, reminds us that the way we walk is one of uncertain future and faltering steps.

The Way is, however, not one of uncertain future. Nor do God’s steps falter. We are bid to put all fear aside and trust Him wholly. “Know,” says the message. We are admonished to walk assured of God’s promises; that He is leading, and that He will reveal Himself and His will and way to us.

The key to walking in assurance and power is to walk one step at a time. I don’t worry about whether or not God’s going to wake me up on this side – because I know that whether here or there, I will be with Him; and He will be with me. He is with us always, knows the end from the beginning, and has already prepared the victory for us. We have but to walk it out. And, the reason we do that, is to learn our true identity in Christ Jesus, and to master that identity as kings and queens in the earth. When we keep that mindset, holding fast to the truths in the Word of God, it gets a little easier to walk in assurance. One day, you realize that you’re no longer even wondering about the future, because you already know God is your future.

Someone asked me recently what I thought of all the suffering I’ve done. I told them, “I see it all practice to help me as a queen. -“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” (Matthew 2:15) You see, Jesus came to serve; not to be served. That’s the mark of a great ruler; don’t you think?

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See His Face Every Time You Look

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to stay as near to God as we can. This closeness, and intimacy is what keeps us from straying. That nearness builds our intimate knowledge of, and faith in our LORD/Lord.

Isaiah 49: 14-16 comes to mind when I read this message this morning. First, let me say, YOU are Zion-God’s chosen dwelling place forever. Think in terms of Spirit and Being. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, whenever you read something about Zion, listen closely-God’s talking about you.

Isaiah 49:16 says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” This is how we need to view our relationship with the LORD/Lord. Every time you look at your hands, see His Face! See His Hands, His Back, and the blood running from His Head. Then, see the glorious crown He wears now; it’s the one you as God’s child, are also crowned with. Don’t let anyone or anything, take that from your head-ever! Order your heart, mind, soul, your world by it, and reign. Please read the message at twolisteners.org for yourselves-it’s a powerful one.

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