The Peace Be Still Life

“For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.”  Psalm 18:29

Here is a word to describe the lives of those who have put their trust in JESUS, “Victorious”! 

Sin is forgiven, death is defeated and hope replaces fear!  Who other beside JESUS can calm the heart in the midst of a storm and bring a smile instead of a frown?  Who other can give you the ability to continually win without the fear of failure?  Who other is always there when you are faced with the loss of one so precious and bring you peace instead of suffering?

There is not a battle to great that the believer cannot conquer through CHRIST!  He gives us the ability to be in the midst of the fight and yet He brings us through safely!  JESUS brings strength we never thought was possible. We leap over walls! We walk through the fire and our storms are calmed!  We live the peace be still life hear and have the hope of Glory to come!

We have no sin to bring us down!

We’re saved by the blood of JESUS!

We have no worry or fear within!

We’re kept by the power of JESUS!

We have no sorrow or distress inside!

We’re kept by the love of JESUS!

Never anxious or panicked are we!

We’re kept by the leading of JESUS!

Wherever we go we’re always save!

Because JESUS will never leave us!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

Pure Light

“For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”  Psalm 18:28

If the lamp is not turned on you will never see the light that it gives!  Until a person is enlightened by The Light they will never truly understand the way of GOD!

Intellectual understanding is good but to be spiritually minded is supernatural! The eye of the natural man is deceiving but the Lamp of GOD is light unto the soul! A lamp turned on in a dark room will show its contents.  When the Light of Christ is reveled to the heart of man he sees himself as he is!

It is far better to except the Light then to walk in the path of darkness! The treasures of GOD will be illuminated when the Light of GOD lives in the heart of man!

There was a darkened way

Where I used to walk.

Lit with polluted light

And demons used to stalk.

Hiding in the shadows

I was eager to escape.

Where would I go?

I used to contemplate!

Where would I ever find

A glimpse of the true Light?

With satisfaction pure

And no longer have to fight?

Then a kindly man

He had a certain glow.

Shared the Light with me

And to JESUS, I did go!

“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.”  Psalm 43:3

Thank you David Pettis for sharing JESUS with Me!

Freedoms Joy

“For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.”  Psalm 18:27

I thank the LORD every day for the freedom from my sin.  CHRIST paid it all!  Every last bit of sin He took to the cross where He died for me.  What is important is we must never lose sight of what He did for us.  Complete salvation!  Not just a little but all sin completely removed for ever. Past, present and future!

We struggle with temptation all the time, or at least I do.  While I’m in this body it will always be that way.  There is coming a day when temptation be removed but until that day it will be a struggle.  Temptation is all around us.  If we say we aren’t tempted I’m convinced the devil has deceived us.  I don’t want you to know how wicked my mind is but I must say many times during the day I have to shake the thoughts from my mind.  I literally shake my head and groan inside.  Thank GOD He gives a way to escape each and every time.   

GOD is the rescuer of those that understand their weaknesses and look to Him for help! 

No need to fear, GOD will hear! 

He rides upon the wind!

He hears your cry; He will reply

And safely bring you in!

 

His timing is right; you won’t have to fight.

The battle is not your own.

When on your knees He hears your pleas

And safely brings you home! 

God will bring down those that put themselves in lofty places.  Any righteousness you have is nothing but filthy, soiled rags!

I once thought I was high but I was low.

My arrogance had brought me down. 

There once was a smile, a happy face

But now there’s only a frown. 

I cried out to GOD, He heard my plea.

My joy is too much to express.

If you would like freedoms joy

Take your sin and to CHRIST confess!

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

Make Me Pure

“With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.”  Psalm 18:26

A pure heart is as a clear diamond to the jeweler, set in gold!  Its value is far beyond anything that is to be desired! 

A pure heart produces compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; its benefit is the reality of GOD’S love through His own pure heart!

He loves, forgives and protects! He is gentle and patient as He leads those with a pure heart!

The impure contemptible mind is like “strychnine in the baby’s bottle” or “poison in the bride’s bouquet” (R.G. Lee).  Those of such a mind will be wrestling with the ALMIGHTY without the hope of winning! 

Cleaner than the clearest diamond

Is the purity of my LORD!  

He is purer than the purest

And very much to be adored!

There is nothing to compare Him to.

All else is tarnished and is dim.

The greatest hope I could ever have

Is to be made pure, just like Him!

With all my imperfection

I walked a muddy path.

I knew I wasn’t pure enough

To escape the ALMIGHTY's wrath!

Only one could make me clean enough

To be among GOD’s best.

I placed my trust in JESUS

In His purity I do rest!

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of  faith unfeigned:” 1 Timothy 1:5 

True Believers Forgive

“With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;”   Psalm 18:25

Here is the rule for receiving mercy, blessing and kindness from GOD.

While it is true salvation is the gift of the FATHER through the SON to all that receive Him through faith.  Mercy, blessing and kindness come when we are led by the SPIRIT that indwells us. How we live our lives after this so great gift will determine what further blessing we receive! 

After salvation the character is changed, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor. 5:17. 

If we hold on to the old way of a never forgiving heart full of envy and strife we cannot expect to be blessed by the GOD that forgave us?  You cannot separate forgiveness from salvation! A forgiving heart is a characteristic of the true believer! 

There are no exceptions when it comes to forgiveness.  We either forgive or we don’t!  To pick and choose who we forgive may make us think well about ourselves but it is not real forgiveness!  Forgiving those that cause the greatest harm will also bring the greatest blessing! True believers forgive!

Forgiveness is blessings door.

It will open your heart

And peace restore.

Where mercy resides

From deep within.

With untainted mind

And joys begin!

Forgiveness brings hope

Like never before.

Love lifting feelings

As the eagle you’ll sour!

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matt. 5:24

What GOD Sees

“Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.”  Psalm 18:24

Living a righteous life for the Lord is not peaches and cream. It is a constant battle! To tell you different would be a lie.

It isn’t the enemy I can see that causes me such agony.  It is me, myself and I that I struggle with the most!  I wish I could say a wicked thought or scheme never comes to mind but I would be a liar!  No one ever said resistance from evil would be easy but we are told, GOD will provide a way of escape!   

If we see ourselves as clean and pretty I doubt we have seen the LORD!  One look at JESUS’ righteousness will cause us to see who we really are.  Thank you JESUS for what you did on the cross! The barrier has been broken!  Trust JESUS and the FATHER will see The SON’s righteousness in you!

I wonder what the FATHER sees

When He looks inside me?

Does He see what I’m really like?

Or does He see HIS SON in me?

This question can be answered

By this one important fact.

If I’ve placed my trust in JESUS

His righteousness He’ll enact!  

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Standing Tall

“I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.”  Psalm 18:23

True perfection only comes through the death, burial and resurrection of JESUS! There is however a responsibility for the believer to live a life that will glorify the LORD.  Self discipline assures success, without it we become weak and are driven by the lusts of our heart. 

Repentance is part of being “upright”; it will drive away our “iniquity”!   Sin may stain the mind but the blood of CHRIST cleanses the heart!

How much I love the LORD

Is seen in my walk.

All the things I do and say

Is what makes people talk.

So with each step I take

I’ll carefully watch my way

Knowing how I act

May lead some soul astray.

I’ll hold to my convictions

And keep my mind on CHRIST!

I’ll read His Word each day I live

And propagate how He sacrificed!

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2

Great Light

“For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.”  Psalm 18:22

Keeping a light in front of us makes darkness disappear and our path is easily seen.  If we have a light and never turn it on we are blinded by our own ignorance and stumble along the way.

Bright light is better than dim with it the hidden is revealed and treasure is found. 

 

The Word of GOD is the light of the believer. It shines in darkness and shows us the way.  If however it is never opened the value is left in it and we struggle and stagger!

Great preaching is a delight to my heart but it never compares to the Word of GOD!  Reading after great commentators is very interesting but GOD’s Word reveled through the Holy Spirit is great treasure to my soul!

I found a Light to guide my way,

As I walked this darkened path!

Revealing every wicked thought,

Which causes my GOD’s wrath.

He took the Light to look within

My shadowy and wicked heart.

Revealing all my immoral ways

By its glow, purity He did impart.

I take the LIGHT as I go my way

And He makes it bright and clear.

Always watching for a pit to fall

This Light chases away my fear.

I realize it is hard to understand

That I found this Light in a book.

How reveling the Word of GOD

I saw JESUS and my sin forsook!

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

This Falling Fool

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.  Psalm 18:21

Falling down is not uncommon but it would be ridiculous not to get back up and go on!  If you stub a toe do you never walk again?  If you fail a test do you never take another?

These may seem impractical even to consider, they just don’t make sense.  If this is true of the physical is it not also true of the spiritual?  If we have a slip of the tongue and offend someone, do we never speak again?  If we have not walked the walk as we should, do we quit walking?

We all know the story of David’s life and know it was never perfect.  He had his failures just as we do!  There were things he did that shock the reader but he knew repentance brought forgiveness!  He refused to quit, he repented got back up and walked on to glorify GOD.  With all his heart he strove to do his best!  Perhaps this is a reason he was called, “a man after God’s own heart”!

I’ve found this about my walk.

I always seem to stumble.

Constantly I’m in need of help.

This really makes me humble.

I see my need I want so bad

To get up on my own!

The only way I can make a move.

Is to reach to JESUS on the throne!

Sometimes He has to drag me up.

Sometimes it’s a gentle pull.

But always by His faithfulness

He loves this falling fool!

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:15-17

What a Reward

“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.”  Psalm 18:20

There is never a sin that goes unpunished but the grace of GOD will deliver those that ask forgiveness!  Our own righteousness will never satisfy the law of GOD but CHRIST on the cross has made the way and took upon Himself our sins penalty, which is death! 

As I face each day my goal is to do right, to live my life in a way that will honor my LORD.  Sad it is to face my failures but they never seem to stop.  A slip of the tongue, undeserved judgments on others and wicked thoughts, all war against my soul!

Happy is the heart that knows sins penalty has been satisfied through the SAVIOR, and great is the joy of knowing GOD looks at the intent of the heart of those He has saved!  

  

We walk, we stumble and we get back up and walk again!  GOD is the rewarder of those that walk in integrity, those that never quit reaching out to Him!

O the sin that plagues my soul

This wretched vex within.

I’m always trying to clean up

But still I’m faced with sin!

What can I do to make it right?

That my righteousness be real!

On my own it will never work.

To JESUS I make my appeal!

Now I’ve found my righteousness

Yet still it’s not my own.

The FATHER made HIM sin for me

CHRIST’s righteousness I clone!

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  Hebrews 11:6

Butterfly’s of the LORD

“He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”  Psalm 18:19

As the butterfly springs from the cocoon so is the deliverance we find through CHRIST!

Once a crawling creature trapped by its own limitations. Then wrapped and bound, it struggles for its freedom. 

The heart cries out to the Creator, release me from my desperate state! Oh how I struggled for my freedom! This cocoon of sin had trapped me and there seemed no way out of the prison where I lived!

The butterfly emerges from its cocoon by a process of complete metamorphosis and complete salvation belongs to those that trust in CHRIST! 

Fly high in your freedom,

Butterflies of the LORD! 

Fly high unto Glory!

In CHRIST you are restored!

No longer are you held hostage

By the boundaries of the flesh!

No limits to our victories!

Each day in CHRIST refreshed!

Your liberty has been received

By the power of GOD's Word!

With your new found freedom,

Shout! Until everyone has heard!

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  2 Corinthians 5:17    

Outwit the Nitwit

“They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.” Psalm 18:18

In view of my own walk with the LORD I have found this principle. The closer I get to GOD the more interference I get! I have also learned, for every interference GOD provides an escape!

The problem is many times when faced with troubles we depend upon ourselves instead of GOD. We scrutinize our situation and plan out our own battle strategy. 

The opposition may allow you to win in a small way to encourage you to continue depending upon yourself, but in the end victory only comes when Christ is in charge of the battlefield.

There is no greater experience we can have than to watch our GOD at work!

When all appose and there seems no way

Look to the LORD my friend.

JESUS will deliver you from sufferings mode

And for you GOD will defend!

No matter the degree of the pain you have.

His strength is mightier than it.

No need to worry or faint in your way.

If only to CHRIST you  submit!

“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17

GOD is Able to Deliver

“He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.”  Psalm 18:17

The first step toward deliverance is understanding our own inability to win the battle!  “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble:” (Psa. 31:9a)

True victory never comes from self!  Self reliance is a mirage that only delays failure.  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)

Every day of our lives is a battle and the enemy we face has strength above our own, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12)

JESUS CHRIST is not only essential in our salvation but also in our daily walk!

I tried to make it on my own

But I could never attain.

All the work that I had done,  

Still my life was full of shame!

I did the things I thought I should.

I made my plans to no avail.

Even with all the good I did

Still I was on my way to Hell!

I didn’t understand you see

That CHRIST had paid the fee.

Once I knew Him as The LORD

Only then was I set free!

I walk today within His power

And I don’t depend on self.

If I could give you some advice

Depend on CHRIST yourself!

“Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?  1 John 5:5

Where tears no longer flow!

 “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.”  Psalm 18:16

The miseries of life’s path can overtake the soul and leave us in deep despair.  Finding ourselves in this pit of hopelessness strangles every part of our being.  How long will we have to endure such anguish, where can we find the help to overcome and once again live with a happy heart?

  

Out of the Glory of GOD’s palace the hand of the ALMIGHTY reaches down to those of deep despair, He pulls them from the fiery furnace; He shuts the mouths of the beasts and curbs their appetite to devour. 

God calms the raging sea that troubles our weary soul and turns our darkness into the beauty of His light.  He sees the tears of our broken heart and weeps with them.  He draws us out of our despair by His Holy Hand and leads us by the still waters.

Don’t be deceived by the lies of Satan.  God knows your need.  Take the hand of JESUS, He will set you free!

There is a place of blissful rest

Where peace can flood the soul!

Far from fear and weariness

Where tears no longer flow!

GOD moves dark and makes it light

And shadows have gone their way.

With a spoken word He calms the storm

And His peace will never decay!

“Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16