Home » Discussion Area » Bible Issues » He Shall Strengthen your Heart
| He Shall Strengthen your Heart [message #5876] |
Sun, 14 June 2009 17:59  |
 sparkles
Messages: 246
Registered: March 2008 |
Senior Member |
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He shall strengthen thine heart: Psalm 27:14 "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."
What a promise the Lord gave us! In the Music section of Overcomersonline there is a song: Be of good courage. I would highly recommend it, as well as the other songs on the site, as they are a blessing and encouragement to all.
Seems like all we hear around these days is how the government is rescuing all these corporations, giving us all this stimulus to grow the economy, supposedly all these jobs being created, how we now have someone in the White House who is going to take care of the problems in the Middle East, and an administration that wants people to look to them and depend on them for health care, since the present administration is going to take care of that also.
Lies, all lies. God is in control and is putting things in place for the soon end.
As we see deceptions increase in the churches and fear on all sides, we need only to look to the Lord to strengthen our hearts and give us discernment and wisdom. Our help is in the Lord, not the wicked, corrupt government, not the churches, not even always our brothers and sisters, but in Jesus Christ and the Word of God alone.
Psalm 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?"
The promise is that God will take care of us in what is ahead, but we have our responsibility to prepare.
Ps. 27: 4-5 "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."
We all know Psalm 91 and am very blessed by the promises in there. verses 14-16 "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."
God will give us strength in the days ahead, an inner strength to stand against all the wiles of the devil and deceivers. A strength to boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, when that will not be a popular place to be. A strength to obey the laws of the land, when others laugh at you for being silly because you go the speed limit, and you don't print personal things at work when after all "everybody does it."
No, it will be an inner strength that only will come by seeking the Lord and his face, by studying the Word of God, and living in all it says. God will keep us in the palm of His hand, and lead us and guide us into all the truth, just as He has promised.
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| Re: He Shall Strengthen your Heart [message #5877 is a reply to message #5876] |
Sun, 14 June 2009 22:30  |
james
Messages: 2142
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL |
Senior Member |
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Thanks for the reminder, Sue; I was under the impression most of the music had been wiped out by Lois and Hombres posts removals. I'm glad to see some are still left. Does anyone know who that is singing the duet about 'wait upon the Lord, be of good courage'...is one of them Melody Powers? I think I was at that seminar, at the Adams Mark. Anyway, your point is well made, there is still some good music there in the Music and Library section.
You've blessed us with some excellent posts lately, Sue, I'm believing to see people become more involved as their time allows. We have a wonderful vehicle here in this forum, to share of God's truths and love to people, it could be the only place where they can get it. There is such a huge difference in what is being taught about God's Word today in most churches, versus what God's Word really teaches. It's mindboggling to me the shallow understanding today by the 'leadership/teachers' of God's Word. For the Body of Christ to be prepared for His return, they/we must be taught something more than 'come to church; plant your seed; life is good; Jesus saves.' Discipleship, the crucified life, faith (real Godly FAITH)...doesn't really draw the crowds, and without the crowds, they can't keep the 'church' machine running.
Am I arguing against those who go to church, NO, I'm not, and I truly hope they've(ya'll) found assemblies that strenghten them, and not rob them of their faith. I do know this, it's hard to sit under a watered down, compromised word, without it affecting one's faith. If God has sent some in to enlighten those there, and they're receptive of the truth, then Praise God. Many times I've been told how there's not another FA out there, or Bro. Freeman, so accept it and find a place to go; I'm no better than anyone else(probably worse than most), but I can not see compromising the truths that God has so richly blessed us with, by going back into the system that He delivered me out of 30 years ago. Gather together to worship? OK. I get that part, the rest, I can't see. No one has told me about how the church they attend is teaching and walking in holiness and righteousness; rather all I've heard is how that maybe God will/could use those of us who go, to help them. To those who have said or experienced this( I know Ron has said he's seen God working where he goes, that's great!)I say praise The Lord.
Do have all the answers? NO, I don't, but please at least show me the love and understanding that Jesus showed you...before you started doing what you think He wants you to do. I'm still confessing Jesus as my Lord and Savior and don't think any less of you for going to 'church' than I do of someone who doesn't go.
William just posted on some of the negative traits many from FA still carry around; one of them was disfellowshipping over the least little things. I want to say as an encouragement as well as an admonishment, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have GOT to grow up and DIE to our self rightousness, I believe God hates that more than anything. "You don't agree with me(or I don't agree with you) so I'm not communicating with you any more until you come up to my level of holiness". FOLKS, that is wrong. Deceptions and heresies, false doctrines? Yeah, that is reason enough, but we've not had that except in one or two cases, HE loved us enough to die for us, HE expects us to love each other and die to our pride, holier than thou additudes, and unscriptural judgements of others.
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." ~I John 4:7-8
That's another song we used to sing.... may we learn to live it.
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”
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| Re: He Shall Strengthen your Heart [message #5878 is a reply to message #5877] |
Mon, 15 June 2009 00:59 |
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william
Messages: 1464
Registered: January 2006 |
Senior Member
Administrator |
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Right you are James!
It would be hypocritical for me to point out some of the problems and
then fall into the same trap. All of those things I mentioned are
summed up in one word, relationships. Not relationships with the world,
or heretics, or those who are propagating serious error, but our
relations with true Christian believers.
The easiest thing for us to do back then was to write off people as
deceivers or those who had left the "faith"; this justified the
separation in our own minds, but I don't think it was always valid.
We've got too much at stake to spend time separating over petty
differences! For instance, I've given reasons why I think that we
should 'get out more', and you have given reasons not to take that
advice. I don't think any less of you as a brother in the Lord for your
stance and you've indicated that you have given me the same liberty, so
what is the big deal? I don't want you to 'walk on egg shells' around
me or avoid subjects that you feel strongly about... for crying out
loud, we are supposed to be OVERCOMERS!
I haven't had much time to post, but I would like to say that, while we
might not have as many messages on a daily basis, the content has been
very good! Even convicting! (Thank you Sue, thank you Grandom, and
thanks to all of the rest.) Like you James, I have been extremely
blessed to find other believers with our common background that still
believe in the biblical truth that we were taught. If we can't make
progress in our relationships with those who share our background, it
may be impossible to have any meaningful relationship with those outside
of our circles.
We all may need to have a face-to-face-meeting somewhere... anyone got
the gift of organization? (We've all got guitars, right? How about
Independence Day? We could call it Interdependence Day!) <grin>
Blessings,
William
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| Re: He Shall Strengthen your Heart [message #5880 is a reply to message #5879] |
Mon, 15 June 2009 14:30 |
james
Messages: 2142
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL |
Senior Member |
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Thanks brother, this just proves a point................that two sets of eyes are better than one. Here I was thinking I was up on the 'cross', dying out to self; when I was up on a 'pedestal', exalting myself. Thanks so much for the loving correction.
btw: Zacchaeus was short so he had to climb up on something in order to see The Lord; he used a sycomore tree.....Nah, that won't fly, I'm too tall for that excuse. Pedestals...hum!
What to do, respond and have someone think you're in the flesh and aren't willing to die to what people say about you...OR, not respond and have people think you're offended and have withdrawn fellowship....Choices, choices.... Justified by my words....or justified by HIS?
Sounds like a sermon in there somewhere....
Cross or a Pedestal ~ Gal. 2:20 Phil.2:5-9
Hot or Cold ~ Rev.3:15
Son or Child ~ Gal.4:1-7
God or Man ~ Jer.17:5
Spirit or Flesh ~ Rom.8:8-9
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”
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| Re: He Shall Strengthen your Heart [message #5909 is a reply to message #5881] |
Wed, 24 June 2009 18:21 |
james
Messages: 2142
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL |
Senior Member |
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I guess at times the older generation does have more wisdom, and maybe I need to learn to listen to the analysis made by those hoary haired dudes. See, I was thinking upon reflection, that maybe I wasn't on a pedestal, but a 'soapbox'. Someone once told me that I needed to get down off my soapbox and chill out( musta been getting on some toes ). Then along comes another fellar saying I need to get off my pedestal and get in the trenches with them (surely they realize there just might be others serving Jesus besides themselves?) So I thought, 'how can I tell which one I'm on and which one did Jesus tell me to get on'...
If I'm on a pedestal, first did I get up there on my own, or did others place me there( you know, like people sometimes do their 'hero's')Well, I know nobody else put me there, so that narrows it down a bit; I don't think I am on a pedestal, or when I jump down the ankle sprains would be more severe. I'm thinking I probably am guilty of climbing up on a soapbox from time to time, but it's not near as high as a pedestal, so that's why I seldom sprain my ankles. I believe that when I have the right spirit of humility and am speaking the truth, in love, then the soapbox isn't a bad thing. Ya never known somebody just might be blessed by a 'soapbox' sermon. Actually, I think those soapbox messages COULD be considered God's work just like trench work.( but that might just be an opinion I formed while on a pedestal where the air is a bit thin and my brain didn't get quite enough oxygen) 
But now the cross, that one I'm sure about...Jesus DID tell me(and you, if you're a christian) to get on it and stay there. No 'come down and take a break', the cross is for death, and we can find out quickly if it's accomplishing it's designed purpose by our reaction to what others say or do to us.
Now here's a thought, is it possible that we get offended by others because we're not on the cross? And we withdraw, not because we're obeying the leading of The Lord, but because we're in the flesh and are manifesting the fruit of the flesh and not the fruit of the spirit? These are my convictions, but I believe the Bible backs this up in principle, we/I, must EVERYDAY, check to see if we're on the cross...It's something we must choose of our own volition...while Jesus tells us to do it, He won't force it upon us.
There is all the difference in the world between the cross and a pedestal, if there's ever a question in ones mind as to which one they're on, then here's a hint...It ain't the cross.( dying is painful )
I think I'll stick with the wisdom found in God's Word and revealed by The Holy Spirit, if there's ever a question concerning advice given.
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”
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