Rejoice in The Lord

Psalms 33:1 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

This week marks the beginning of March Madness. If you are not familiar with this term, it refers to the college basketball playoffs. I did not know much about this until I moved up to the Hoosier state. To say that they take basketball seriously up here would be a great understatement! The excitement that some people display towards tossing a ball into a hoop is incredible.

How blessed we would be if just a fraction of such excitement were manifest in praising the Lord. There have been times that I have participated in services where a visitor would think that it was a funeral service instead of worship. This ought not to be! If we can display so much excitement for a silly sporting event, how much more should we manifest praise for the One who has saved us?

David encourages the righteous to rejoice. When we stop to think about how we were brought to such a state, it should put us on shouting ground. We deserved nothing more than eternal condemnation, yet God in this infinite mercy chose a people to redeem before the world was created! We deserved His wrath because of our sins, but received unmerited grace. My friends that will beat a basketball day hands down!

We are also blessed because of the Lord's daily provision. In Psalms 68:19 David wrote, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits." It is good news to know that we are never left to our own devices. He gives us daily grace sufficient to make it through the day. 

Our praise brings glory to the Lord. The pleasure of your favorite sports team achieving victory is fleeting. The win a few and then lose a few. But you will never be disappointed in directing your affections and energies towards the Lord. He is the only source of all truth. He is the creator and sustainer of our universe. He is our only deliverer. In light of these truths (and many more) why would we not rejoice in Him?

Blessings,

Michael D. Green, Jr.

Fort Wayne Primitive Baptist Church

Things We Must Fight Against

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Many times we find ourselves fighting against things that we should leave alone and neglecting the things in which we should constantly be warring against as a disciple. Paul encourages Timothy in this direction by reminding him to fight the good fight of faith. Discipleship is indeed the most challenging pursuit that we will ever undertake in this life. It is also our blessed responsibility as children of the King of Kings! Are you focusing your attention towards this noble pursuit?

         What are some things that we must constantly fight against as disciples? This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a few areas where we must be actively engaged in spiritual warfare:

         One area is temptation. Paul would  later warn Timothy to flee youthful lusts (2 Timothy 2:22). There are numerous tools in Satan’s arsenal that he will employ to cause us to stumble. We must be vigilant and avoid the many temptations that confront us every day.

        We must also fight against fear. Proverbs 29:25 proclaims, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” We oftimes will allow peer pressure or popular opinion to dictate our decisions. The solution to this attitude is to trust in the Lord of Hosts and not fear what man may do to you. It is my experience that many of the things that we dedicate a large portion of our lives worrying about generally are not as bad as we anticipate or never even materialize!

       Finally, we also should fight against pride. Pride causes us to have an overinflated opinion of our qualities or abilities. When we are in this state of mind, we become critical and disrespectful to others. God’s glory is also relegated to an inferior position when we are prideful. The inevitable conclusion to this attitude is a fall (Proverbs 16:18; 18:12)! We fight against pride by humbling ourselves before God.

Proverbs 8:13 reinforces this truth. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

      Lord help us to keep our priorities straight and not find ourselves fighting against the Lord and His people, but faithfully profess a good profession before others by faithfully fulfilling our obligations as soldiers of Christ.

Blessings,

Michael D. Green, Jr.

Fort Wayne Primitive Baptist Church

A Proper Perspective

Psalms 31:15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Are you currently struggling through difficult times in your life? Do you feel that there is no end to your troubles? If so, then you are in good company. We all inevitably find ourselves in this position from time to time. It is not a matter of ‘if’ troubles will find us but when. The Psalmist David writes of one such time in Psalms 31.  He was facing intense persecution from those that would see him and the nation of Israel overthrown.

In the midst of trials we can lose proper biblical perspective. We will focus on the problem, the ones that are causing trouble, or the possible results of the problem. This brings much unnecessary stress and worry into our lives! When trouble comes, the proper action is to focus on the One who is able to deliver us from such.

David understood that his life was in the Lord’s hand. Though he was unsure of the outcome of these particular difficulties and was grieved at the evildoers, David recalled that the Lord was intimately acquainted with his problem. This should be our attitude regardless of the situation we face. Come what may, God’s grace is sufficient for the trials that we encounter. It might be that he delivers us completely out of a difficult situation. Perhaps he doesn’t remove us from those that would persecute us, but gives us the grace and strength necessary to endure. Whatever the case, we can put our trust in the Lord and join David in acknowledging Him as our strong rock.

Blessings,

Bro. Michael D. Green, Jr.

Fort Wayne Primitive Baptist Church

Conquering Fear

Psalms 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

One of the most common emotions that we experience is fear. Many of our trepidations stem from the unknown. We fear the potential loss of friendships, health, financial security and freedom. Some of this some of these concerns are warranted, but how much joy is lost to worrying about situations that might never occur?

Unfortunately, our culture does not do much too assuage our fears. My wife and I were watching television the other day and were shocked at the number of movies and weekly programming that is being produced to elicit fear in the viewers. We have to even screen commercials because of some of the images flashed on the screen that would be outright terrifying to our younger children!

The high offices of government also seem to be selling fear these days. News from Washington is ofttimes chronicling one potential disaster after another. We are told that if certain policy is not enacted, unprecedented upheaval will occur. There is the constant threat of terrorism, both foreign and domestic. Again, much of this is a ploy to further political agenda.

I am thankful that this is not the case with our Lord. It is our responsibility to be discerning about the potential dangers that surround us. But ultimately we have nothing to fear as a child of the King. The Lord is our light that shines in this world of darkness. Notice the following scriptures of comfort:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit with the ability to live life with boldness. Let us remember that though the world around us wax worse and worse, our home is in Heaven. Our security is in the One who conquered death, hell, and the grave. In light of these truths whom do you fear? Lord help us to keep this hope in the forefront of our minds!

Blessings,

Michael D. Green, Jr.

Fort Wayne Primitive Baptist Church