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I’m sharing this here with you from my time of personal devotions with my Lord Jesus Christ, for your encouragement. Sue Love
Psalms 119:57-60 ESV
The Lord Jesus is my treasure. He is my destiny. He is my wealth. He is my future. He is my inheritance. He is my pleasure. He is my all-sufficiency. He is all that I need to survive and to thrive. And he will provide for me all that I need in this life to do his will and to live for his glory and praise. He is my happiness, my joy, my comfort, my companion and my salvation.
Keeping the words of the Lord is my joy. It is not a drudgery. It is not something I do just because I am supposed to do it, but I want to obey my Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul. My desire is to do his will for my life, to follow him in all of his ways, and to speak his truths so that others can know him in truth, as well.
With sincere and undivided affections I seek after my Lord to do his will. I lean up his grace to me. I trust in his mercy. For he is gracious to me, even though, in my flesh, I am so undeserving of his mercy and grace which he has provided for me, his servant. I am so thankful for his love and grace, for without him I would not be here, and I would not be walking in his ways and in his truth. I know that full well.
There was a time in my life when I strayed from his mercy and grace. I did not walk in his grace and mercy as I ought, but I turned away from the Lord to follow after the ways of my flesh and the ways of this world, instead, for I was angry with the Lord, although I did not understand that at the time that I was straying. I was angry toward the Lord for not rescuing me from all the persecutions that I had faced in this life from childhood on up to adulthood.
But the Lord was gracious to me, although he did not have to be, and he brought me back, and he healed me, and he restored me to himself, and he gave me a new lease on life and a new purpose for living, and then he called me to this present ministry, and I have been following in his ways ever since then. This is not saying that I have been absolutely perfect, but I have been walking in his ways, and in his truth, and in obedience to his will for my life.
[Rom 1:6-7; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-29; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 3:17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Gal 5:13-21; Eph 1:3-4; Eph 2:10,21; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:5-9,24; 2 Pet 1:3; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6]
Psalms 119:61 ESV
The Psalmist is not saying here that he was ensnared (trapped, entangled) by the traps laid by the wicked to the point to where he had fallen into sin. For his next words say that he did not forget the law of the Lord, i.e. he continued to obey the Lord. But wicked and evil men were coming against him, and they were laying traps for him to fall into, for certain.
What kind of traps do evil men (or women) lay for the righteous to fall into today? A lot of them are psychological traps. For the wicked are sometimes those who express hostility towards their enemies under disguise and for the purpose of gaining underhanded psychological and/or physical advantage over their enemies. And they are those who, in underhanded ways, will exact punishment onto those who fail to satisfy their wicked impulses.
When the wicked do not get their way, they will devise subversive plots to make the lives of those around them miserable. For example, they say one thing but do another. They are good at blaming others for their wrongs, stalling to keep from doing what they have said they would do, making excuses for their behaviors, pretending ignorance when they did know, and using traitorous sabotage against those they perceive as their enemies.
They will use blatant emotional exploitation (abuse, mistreatment, and manipulation) with the intent of controlling their targets (intended victims). They will willfully violate understood boundaries. They will mix lies and truth together. And they will make manipulative and deceptive connections between the Scriptures and what they are saying which are not connected but which are intended to deceive naïve and unsuspecting minds.
Basically, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing pretending one thing while living another, telling lies, deceiving, manipulating the truth, twisting the Scriptures to their advantage, and all with the intent to trick, to manipulate, and to deceive people into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth. They are very clever in how they blend lies and truth together with the intent to deceive many people into accepting their lies as truth.
[Matt 7:15-23; Matt 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Tim 1:3-7; 1 Tim 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23; Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-17; Jn 15:18-21]
So, don’t be fooled by them. Follow the Scriptures. Submit to Christ as Lord. Leave your lives of sin behind you to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). Walk in holiness and in righteousness in purity of devotion to the Lord despite your circumstances, and despite all enemies coming against you. Remain steadfast in your walks of faith and do not give way to the enemy out of fear of what man might do to you. For, if we walk in sin we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Psalms 119:57-60 ESV
“The Lord is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies;
I hasten and do not delay
to keep your commandments.”
I promise to keep your words.
I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies;
I hasten and do not delay
to keep your commandments.”
The Lord Jesus is my treasure. He is my destiny. He is my wealth. He is my future. He is my inheritance. He is my pleasure. He is my all-sufficiency. He is all that I need to survive and to thrive. And he will provide for me all that I need in this life to do his will and to live for his glory and praise. He is my happiness, my joy, my comfort, my companion and my salvation.
Keeping the words of the Lord is my joy. It is not a drudgery. It is not something I do just because I am supposed to do it, but I want to obey my Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul. My desire is to do his will for my life, to follow him in all of his ways, and to speak his truths so that others can know him in truth, as well.
With sincere and undivided affections I seek after my Lord to do his will. I lean up his grace to me. I trust in his mercy. For he is gracious to me, even though, in my flesh, I am so undeserving of his mercy and grace which he has provided for me, his servant. I am so thankful for his love and grace, for without him I would not be here, and I would not be walking in his ways and in his truth. I know that full well.
There was a time in my life when I strayed from his mercy and grace. I did not walk in his grace and mercy as I ought, but I turned away from the Lord to follow after the ways of my flesh and the ways of this world, instead, for I was angry with the Lord, although I did not understand that at the time that I was straying. I was angry toward the Lord for not rescuing me from all the persecutions that I had faced in this life from childhood on up to adulthood.
But the Lord was gracious to me, although he did not have to be, and he brought me back, and he healed me, and he restored me to himself, and he gave me a new lease on life and a new purpose for living, and then he called me to this present ministry, and I have been following in his ways ever since then. This is not saying that I have been absolutely perfect, but I have been walking in his ways, and in his truth, and in obedience to his will for my life.
[Rom 1:6-7; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-29; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 3:17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Gal 5:13-21; Eph 1:3-4; Eph 2:10,21; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:5-9,24; 2 Pet 1:3; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6]
Psalms 119:61 ESV
“Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.”
I do not forget your law.”
The Psalmist is not saying here that he was ensnared (trapped, entangled) by the traps laid by the wicked to the point to where he had fallen into sin. For his next words say that he did not forget the law of the Lord, i.e. he continued to obey the Lord. But wicked and evil men were coming against him, and they were laying traps for him to fall into, for certain.
What kind of traps do evil men (or women) lay for the righteous to fall into today? A lot of them are psychological traps. For the wicked are sometimes those who express hostility towards their enemies under disguise and for the purpose of gaining underhanded psychological and/or physical advantage over their enemies. And they are those who, in underhanded ways, will exact punishment onto those who fail to satisfy their wicked impulses.
When the wicked do not get their way, they will devise subversive plots to make the lives of those around them miserable. For example, they say one thing but do another. They are good at blaming others for their wrongs, stalling to keep from doing what they have said they would do, making excuses for their behaviors, pretending ignorance when they did know, and using traitorous sabotage against those they perceive as their enemies.
They will use blatant emotional exploitation (abuse, mistreatment, and manipulation) with the intent of controlling their targets (intended victims). They will willfully violate understood boundaries. They will mix lies and truth together. And they will make manipulative and deceptive connections between the Scriptures and what they are saying which are not connected but which are intended to deceive naïve and unsuspecting minds.
Basically, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing pretending one thing while living another, telling lies, deceiving, manipulating the truth, twisting the Scriptures to their advantage, and all with the intent to trick, to manipulate, and to deceive people into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth. They are very clever in how they blend lies and truth together with the intent to deceive many people into accepting their lies as truth.
[Matt 7:15-23; Matt 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Tim 1:3-7; 1 Tim 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23; Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-17; Jn 15:18-21]
So, don’t be fooled by them. Follow the Scriptures. Submit to Christ as Lord. Leave your lives of sin behind you to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). Walk in holiness and in righteousness in purity of devotion to the Lord despite your circumstances, and despite all enemies coming against you. Remain steadfast in your walks of faith and do not give way to the enemy out of fear of what man might do to you. For, if we walk in sin we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
