April 5,2014: Morning Prayer and Meditation on Psalm 32:1-6

What a blessed message this is! O precious Heavenly Father. This is the joyful sound
that goes to all the world, the good news that the angels announced on that first
Christmas morning: good tidings that should be to all people.

I praise and magnify Your truth, O Precious Father, astounding though it is. What a
wonderful simple truth is that You by Your Own good pleasure have announced
forgiveness of sins to Your people. They are pronounced blessed, and their sins are not
counted to them.

I confess, O Lord, that Your word in this Psalm, which Paul quotes in his epistle to the
Romans, belongs to the righteousness of faith.

I was called out of darkness into light by this great gift of justification which included
two unearned gifts from You, O Lord, through Your Son, Jesus Christ by the Holy
Spirit. We know the meaning of this Psalm because You have taught us, and we could
learn no other way.

I praise You for the first unearned gift of full and free forgiveness of sins, so that all of
our sins, past, present, and future are not imputed to us, they are not charged to us
because by faith, which is Your gift, we believe that Christ died for our sins, so that He
who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God.

This righteousness is without the law, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
This righteousness which declares us innocent before Your Holy Law is without flaw,
perfect and whole and we are adopted as Your children and given the Spirit of
adoption that Christ may be formed in us. This was your second great gift of grace to
us.

Your Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, O Lord, and reproved the guile and hypocrisy that
defined our life. You brought us to despair over our sins and transgression. We refused
to confess them, and condemned others for the things we did ourselves. We shut our
guilt within ourselves and justified ourselves before others, either pretending that Your
Law did not apply to us, or that we were innocent of sins. Your hand was very heavy
upon us and it was like we had died a kind of death, far from the water of life, dry
bones without hope and without God. The pride of our hearts kept us in chains to our
sins and misery.

But Christ had died for us when all our sins were future and we were without hope and
help. As God commanded the light to shine out of darkness on that first day of
Creation, so in a new creation You shined into our hard and barren hearts, generously
pouring out Your Spirit of life, the water of life, and banishing the dry bones of
hypocrisy, guile, and bitterness, which had come because Your hand was heavy upon
us, and we did not seek You.

By Your glorious Light, the good news of the Gospel, shined into our hearts, melting
them, changing us, bringing forgiveness and confession of sins, translating us from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

We are not alone in this, for this is the inheritance of all the godly, those in whom the
words of the apostle are fulfilled who was sent “To open their eyes, and to turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in
me.” Acts 26:18

-------------------
“1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be
found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” (Ps
32:1-6)

How Much Does a Song Weigh?

My friend Brad Davis expanded my thought today. Thanks, Brad.

So, we live in an expanding universe. But what do we measure by? If one frog is the
only existence, who knows whether it grows or shrinks. The other day "scientists"
reported that it actually may be shrinking, that the universal constant is maybe wrong.
But how would you know?

Archimedes could find no place to stand, and could not move the world. Will we
measure the universe by the wind blowing through the vanity of our minds?

Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that
bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his
might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with
some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and
comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

When you divide any number into an infinite number of parts, how large is each part?
We can and must number our days and many things of creation. But what is the
dimension of thought; the depth of love; the weight of wisdom? Are these things not
real also.

Mic 6:11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of
deceitful weights?

Isaiah 40: 12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who hath directed the
Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

Little ships must stay near the shore.

April 4: Morning Prayer and Meditation on Psalm 34:11-16

Our precious Heavenly Father. We can learn the fear of the Lord only from You and
never from the precept of men. You have made our Lord Jesus to be wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption which is His gift to us by the Holy
Spirit. You have shown us what is good, what makes life desirable, rich and full.

Set a seal upon our lips, Dear Father, that evil will not be found on them; nor hypocrisy
nor self-deceit. We so easily deceive ourselves and You withdraw from us when we
love lies and wickedness.

Even if we are blind and silly, You are our Father in Heaven and know the difference
between the evil and the good. Your eyes are upon the righteous of the earth, those
who trust in Your Son, Jesus of Nazareth, and Your ears hear their prayers when they
cry to You for mercy and wisdom.

You also know those who are evil, who do not believe and whose mouths are filled
with filthy blasphemies against You and Your people. They will not be remembered in
the earth, for You will cut them off. You turn Your face from them as Your blessed
Apostle Paul wrote, “If any love not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed at His
coming,” for guile and vain pretense are exposed by a hard heart that does not love
Christ and His people.

But we do love the Lord Jesus, Your Son, because of the blood of His cross, which is
foolishness to those lost in their sins and misery. And we do love Your People,
Precious Father, and will by Your grace forever. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, Your
only begotten Son, Amen.
---------
11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of
them from the earth. from Psalm 34

Morning Prayer, April 3. Psalm 33:18-22

April 3, 2014 Morning Prayer and Happy Birthday to My Wife.

Our Precious Heavenly Father, we fear You because You eye is upon us and we hope
in Your mercy. This is not a vain hope, because it is based upon the certain work of the
Father in election, the Son in Mediation, and the Holy Spirit in application. Hence,
none of Your promises can fail.

Death has no eternal power over Your children, Dear Lord, and there is no famine
except that which comes from You, so we fear neither death nor famine. We wait
patiently for Your mercy and grace for You are our help and our shield.

From the depth of our hearts we rejoice in You, Precious Father, for Your name
represent all that is true about You: Existence, Omnipotence, Omniscience,
Omnipresence, Immutability, Love, Grace, Mercy, Unity, and Infinity and all the other
things that are revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

Our hope is not in vain, O Precious Father, and we shall never be ashamed, because it
cannot be that Your mercy will not certainly follow those who rely upon Your
promises and Hope in You. In the Precious Name of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth,
Amen.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his
mercy;
19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

Morning Prayer: 4/1/2014

“15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from
them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy
mercies’ sake.” (Ps 31:15-16 AV)

Dear Precious Heavenly Father: Everything in my life, all the good times and all the
bad times are in Your hand” You bring both evil upon the sons of men and You bring
good, and as Your children know these things, plenty and want, joy and sorrow, death
and living, hope and despair, winning and losing, and health and sickness.

But in a special way You hold the times of Your people in Your hand, so that they are
measured out according to our capacity and calling. You do not give us an excess of
good things, or we would forget You and forget the hope of heaven, and we would
treasure Your gifts more than You.

Neither do You give us more trouble than we can bear, but You also make a way to
escape that we are able to bear it. Hence, we can never be overthrown by our sorrows,
for they serve Your good purpose of making us strong, correcting our errors, and
making us partakers of Your Holiness.

So even in good times and bad times, Your face shines upon us, and we will not be
delivered into the hands of our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Your
mercies are high above the heavens and nothing can take them out of Your hand and
take them from Your servants. We love You, O Lord Jesus, and we want no Lord but
You, no God but You, and we are content.

Amen and Amen.

10 But he [Job] said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all
this did not Job sin with his lips.

Hebrews 12: 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for
what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Musical Idolatry?

Ps 33:3 "Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise." "skilfully" means with beauty and
pleasure [toward God, for the music is to be "unto him" as a spiritual sacrifice to His majesty and
greatness], "loud noise" means "alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm
or joy."

Nowhere is music to be used as a protest dishonoring mothers and fathers and setting asides
grandmothers and grandfathers, and sowing strife and discord. Ps. 33 extols the glory and majesty of
God and begins, "Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright." "comely"
means "beautiful" [before God] and doesn't fit a fool: Pr 19:10 "Delight is not seemly for a fool; much
less for a servant to have rule over princes." Humility, truth, and sound doctrine are the foundation for
"comely" praise in music or in anything else, for gravity and seriousness must mark all of our worship
of the Lord, even our rejoicing. Hence, those who lead the church must be "grave" men [1Tim 3 and
Titus 2] The church is the temple of God, not a place for silly ditties and stupid doctrines.

The church is primarily a place to hear the voice of God. Hab. 1:18 What profiteth the graven image
that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work
trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb
stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in

 the midst of it. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

An idol can be an instrument of music, made of brass, or wood, or hide and can become an object of
veneration as though worship cannot take place without it. A guitar which becomes an essential for
"worship" is a false God, for the only essential for worship is lively preaching of the word of God and
humility and reception of that word in the hearts of the people. And yet thousands turn away from
sound preaching in order to have a guitar or any instrument of music and are idolaters as certainly
as those who enter the temple of Baal.

Erring Through Wine

Isa 28:7 "But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of
the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed
up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they
stumble in judgment."

If you have known those who are alcoholics, you know that you have not seen the real
person for years; you have been talking and relating to the alcohol. The alcohol distorts
his judgment, victimizes him, and makes him unfit to render judgment in church or in
state. When they sober up, you may be amazed at what a different person has been
hidden under the alcohol.

Alcohol swallows up people and turns them out of the way. This is the reason that
elders and overseers in the church must not be abusive of wine or strong drink, for how
can they be just with men when they err in vision and stumble in judgment?

Proverbs 31: "4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for
princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of
any of the afflicted."

Of course, the sin is not in the bottle or in any material thing: the sin is in the heart; the
lovelessness that turns to self-indulgence rather than doing the hard work of judgment
in church or state. It is an idolatry and rejects the world that God created in favor of a
dream world created by the drug.