Plead My Cause O Lord!

Thought For Today - May 15
Plead My Cause O Lord!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. For without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself :into that very destruction let him fall. and my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation." Psalm 35: 1-9.

    When we become Christians by being born again into God's family, we immediately enter a spiritual combat zone. We face enemies that we never had to face before, enemies whose commander in chief is Satan. We must constantly draw from God our father, strength and help to fight our enemies. Christ our captain will lead us to victory if we dedicate ourselves to him and thank him.

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Oh! To Be Godly!

 
Thought For Today - May 14
 Oh! To Be Godly!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him." Psalm 4: 3.

    What does it mean to be godly? To be godly means to be somewhat like God, to take on some of the characteristics of God. In the beginning God made man in his image, to be like him, but because of sin, man fell, and has come short of the likeness of God. But through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, man has been redeemed and reconciled to God on an individual basis, providing that the individual will accept it as a free gift from God.

 "As many as received him, to them gave he power ( or authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" John 1: 12.  As a child of God, we are in the family of God and godly.

    When we are born again into the family of God and become godly, then the Lord sets us apart from every other creature. God puts upon us his shield of love and protection, and we find ourselves in the favor of God. God gives us special work and tasks to perform for his glory. He cleanses us on the inside, and makes us a fit house or vessel in which he can live and work.  Since we who are godly are set apart ,and in favor with God ,and under his shield of love and protection, and since we are his special workmen, assigned a special job for his glory, God will give us extra special attention when we call unto him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation....", 2 Peter 2: 9.

    Knowing that by grace we are saved through faith ,and having put on godliness by God's grace, and knowing that we are God's special vessels for his honor, we ought to stand in awe and sin not. We ought to come before God with such reverence and respect that in his presence we would be speechless and spellbound to behold his glory, if it were not for the fact that he gives the privilege to come boldly before the throne of grace. When we stand before God, we ought to take off our shoes, as it were, because the place where we stand is holy ground. 

The family dinning room becomes holy ground when the family is gathered to enjoy God's bountiful blessing when we meet with God there, and the table becomes a sacred altar when we offer our gratitude and offer ourselves before God. Our bed becomes a holy place when we lie upon it and commune with God from our hearts in the long night hours.

    Because we have become the children of God, and made godly in him; and because we are set apart to receive his special favor; and because we are recipients of his great love and salvation; and because we are called out of the world to perform special tasks for him; we ought to be more than anxious to offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and die daily to ourselves, and abandon ourselves completely to God, and put our trust in him.  

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise." Psalm 51: 17.

  "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." "But to do well and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb 13: 15, 16.

    We should be continually praising God with our lips. Open wide your mouth and let the words flow out loud and clear from your heart: blessed be the name of the Lord; praise God from whom all blessing flow; glory to God in the highest. This is a sacrifice that God is pleased with-then, it follows with good works and service.

    "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service." Rom 12:1 

 If we have given our bodies over to God as a living sacrifice, then we should have no problem opening wide our mouths in praise of God and in following it up with good works.

    "And the scribe said unto him, well, master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God, and there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul and with all strength and to love his neighbor as himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Mark 12: 32, 33.

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Consider the Goodness of God!

Thought for Today - May 13
 Consider the Goodness of God!
By:Robert A Searles

    Consider the goodness of God. Think of the goodness of God toward you as an individual, and then think of the goodness of God to your family. 

    But for the goodness and grace of God, where would we be? John Bunyan looked at a drunken bum lying in the gutter and he made the statement: "But for the grace of God, there go I". 

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2: 8,9. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

    Because of the goodness of God and his love for us, we are rescued from the bondage of Satan and set free as the redeemed children of God. Because of the goodness of God, we no longer have to be slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Because of the goodness of God, we can know love, joy, peace, and freedom from guilt and fear. We can enjoy the things that God has given us to enjoy. Because of the goodness and grace of God we have health and strength and are able to live normal lives. We see the goodness of God in all creation. We see the goodness of God in God's faithfulness. 

 " .......and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.   and the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generations." Exodus 34:4, 5-7.

    "He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Psalm 33: 5-9

    "Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness." Psalm 65:11.

"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Romans 2:4.

    The goodness of God demands nothing less than our gratitude, our love, and dedication to God's service ,and obedience to him. If we give God less - then, we are despising his goodness.
"Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell, severity; but toward thee ,goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou shalt be cut off." Romans 11:22.

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Is God Real to You?

 
  Thought For Today - May 12
  Is God Real to You?
 By: Robert A Searles

    Is God real in your life? What,  or who do you really think God is? Is God an intricate part of you as an individual? Is God as much a part of you as your breathing, or your heartbeat , or your walking and moving about? Is God just an ideal; a good idea? Is God just a philosophy of life that we pick from a book? Is God just a psychological means of control to keep us from doing immoral things? Is God just a good thought that we think about for a few moments each day, and then close the book and put it on the shelf for another day, or until something bad or unpleasant happens to us for which we have no answer, and we recognize that we need wisdom beyond ourselves? What and who is God to you as an individual?

God's word teaches us that God is a spirit, a supernatural invisible spirit. They that worship God must worship him in spirit. God's word teaches us that the supernatural invisible spirit of God manifested himself in the person and body of Jesus of Nazareth while he was on earth. Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection, and sent the Holy Spirit to literally live in our bodies. If we choose and desire to have it so, God the Holy Spirit will clean our house and literally , as a matter of fact, actually take up residence in our bodies. At this point it is God himself living in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. If we choose to have it so, it will be God himself in us creating our wants and desires, and it will be God himself in us controlling our thoughts and the very movements of our bodies. 

If God is really living in us, we don't really have to set up a lot of rules and regulations for ourselves, because it will be God himself that will be in control. We have to grasp the principle that we were made and designed to be the house and temple of God, the place where God lives, and walks, and has his being. Of course, before God can live in us, we must be changed, we must be born again through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must willingly yield ourselves and open the door so that the Holy Spirit can move in and take charge.

    Where do you go for counsel? Do you look to people, someone whom you admire for their great intellectual capacities, or do you look within yourselves, to the Holy Spirit of God who dwells and lives in each one of his born again children? 

 "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that covereth with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin; that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt." Isaiah 30: 1,2.

    Did it ever occur to you that if you look to a person for counsel, even though that person may be a child of God, and even though that person may be much admired for his outward appearance and apparent service to the Lord, he may not be completely yielded himself to the spirit of God, and so be limited as to the wisdom he has from God? God wants us to look to no person for counsel. He wants us to come directly to the throne of grace.

    Do we pitch our tents, as Lot did, so that we can look toward Sodom? Have we separated ourselves unto God, just enough, so that if we wanted to, it would not be too difficult to take a walk down into Egypt, as it were, which is typical of the world of sin and bondage from which we came. Are we prone to trust in the shadow of Egypt? Do we say that we love and trust God, but after all when we get hungry we must run after the things of the world to get satisfied?

    When we trust in men, and in the world system, and have no real vital relationship with the living God who wants to live and walk and abide in us, then no wonder we have no power, and are frustrated and confused. 

 "Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." Isaiah 30: 3.


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Knowledge! Wisdom! Understanding!

 
Thought For Today May 11
 Knowledge! Wisdom! Understanding!
By: Robert  A. Searles

Knowledge is one thing. Understanding is quite another, and from whence comes wisdom?
Having a great deal of knowledge without having understanding is like having a giant computer without the knowledge of how to operate it.

    It is possible to know a lot of facts about many things, but not know what to do with those facts, or how to apply them to a given situation. We need understanding to operate a giant computer in order to utilize the wealth of information which it contains. We also need wisdom and understanding to apply to our lives the right use of knowledge. We can go to school and accumulate a lot of facts and store up knowledge, but the only place we can get understanding is from God our father who is the source of all knowledge, and wisdom, and understanding.

    There is no college or university in the world that can teach us understanding, particularly understanding of the things of God. Knowledge without understanding is a mockery of education. What uses is knowledge if you don't know what to do with it?

Understanding is of a spiritual nature, it comes from God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

    There are many educated "fools" in the world. The reason for all the confusion and turmoil in the world is , at least, partly due to the fact that although there are men and women with a great deal of worldly knowledge and education in positions of leadership, yet they know not God, and therefore, have no proper understanding and wisdom because wisdom and understanding comes only from God.

 Wisdom and understanding  is the spiritual personality that can properly operate the giant computer which is loaded with information, and unlock the room full of knowledge.

    "But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, it is not in me: and the sea saith, it is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding." Job 28: 12-20.

  "And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28.

 "But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment." Job32:8,9.

 "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?" Job 38: 36 

 "Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." Psalm 119: 104.

    "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searcheth for her as for hid treasures; then shall thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly." Proverbs 2:1-7.

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Slow Down! Stop Making Noises! Listen!

Thought For Today - May 10
 Slow Down! Stop Making Noises! Listen!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46: 10.

  "For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work" Psalm 95:7,8,9.

    God's word tells us that we should slow down. Stop what we are doing, stop making noises, and listen. God wants to talk to us, but many times we do not want to listen. The reason that we do not want to listen, is because we do not want to hear what God is saying to us, and if we do not stop to think and listen, somehow we justify ourselves in not doing that which God is telling us to do. God may be trying to tell us to do or not to do something that we want to believe is, or is not the will of God for us, and many times we do not like what we hear from God.

    The world is a noisy place to live in. The world is guilty before God, and so the world will try to make as much noise as possible so it will not have to listen to the voice of God, because the voice of God would convict. The world must have the loudest automobiles, the loudest laughter, the loudest music - anything, just keep busy, running, racing, jumping, but whatever you do, do not sit quietly and listen,, and think, because it will drive you crazy, so the world tells us. Why will it drive you crazy? Because we disagree with what we hear when God speaks to us through his word to our conscience, and we cannot bear the reproof of God.

    "The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility." Proverbs 15: 31-33.

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Faithfulness!

 
 Thought For Today - May 9
  Faithfulness!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." Proverbs 28: 20.

    What does it mean to be faithful? Consider the faithfulness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God is so faithful in all that he does and says, that we just take him for granted and expect things always to be as they are.

 The dictionary says that to be faithful means to be true or trustworthy in the performance of duty, especially in the fulfillment of promises, obligations, vows, and the like.

 God is faithful. He is true and trustworthy in the performance of his work. Each new day, God our father causes the sun to rise, right on time. If he didn't, if God ever failed in the performance of his work, we would be terribly upset, and there would be chaos in the universe. God regulates our heart beat and our respiration, and keeps it steady. God brings about the change of seasons, right on time. God gives the rain and the sun, and brings forth the harvest at the proper time, so that we might have food. God was faithful to send the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem us. God is faithful to sustain us, and when we see the faithfulness of God all around us, we can be sure that he will be faithful in punishing sin, and in the return lo earth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How faithful are we? God gives us the grace to be faithful if we want to be. We have to choose and make choices daily whether or not we want to be faithful in our duties and promises, or, if we just want to indulge in pleasure and please ourselves.

    It is very easy to pledge ourselves to God and pledge our faithfulness to him when we need his blessing and assistance in something. Maybe one day when we didn't have so much, orwe were in trouble, we promised God that we would put him first in our lives. Since then, perhaps,. times have changed, and things have become  better for us. Have we been faithful? Perhaps we promised God to spend more time in his word, and in a time of quietness before God, and meditate and fellowship with him; but recently God has opened the windows of heaven and poured out blessing upon us, and now we are so busy picking up the blessings that we don't really have the time to be faithful to our promises to love, honor, and serve him. 

These things ought to follow in this order -  to love God because he first loved us and to be eternally grateful because he gave himself for us. Then, to honor him with our lives, and then comes service.

"Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me." Psalm 101:6

    Don’t allow the flesh to tell you what to do. On the contrary, it is the spirit that ought to tell the flesh what to do. Even if we don't feel like spending time in God's word or praying and meditating alone with God, if we will discipline ourselves to please God, God will bless our faithfulness.

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