Fighting Heresy — A Favorite Cartoon!

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord: Psalm 144

Psalm 144

Of David.

¹ Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
    who trains my hands for war,
    my fingers for battle.
² He is my loving God and my fortress,
    my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples under me.

³ Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,
    mere mortals that you think of them?
⁴ They are like a breath;
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.

⁵ Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
    touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
⁶ Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
    shoot your arrows and rout them.
⁷ Reach down your hand from on high;
    deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
    from the hands of foreigners
⁸ whose mouths are full of lies,
    whose right hands are deceitful.

⁹ I will sing a new song to you, my God;
    on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
¹⁰ to the One who gives victory to kings,
    who delivers his servant David.

From the deadly sword ¹¹ deliver me;
    rescue me from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
    whose right hands are deceitful.

¹² Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³ Our barns will be filled
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴     our oxen will draw heavy loads.
There will be no breaching of walls,
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.
¹⁵ Blessed is the people of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord: Psalm 140

Psalm 140

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
    protect me from the violent,
² who devise evil plans in their hearts
    and stir up war every day.
³ They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
    the poison of vipers is on their lips.

⁴ Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
    protect me from the violent,
    who devise ways to trip my feet.
⁵ The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
    they have spread out the cords of their net
    and have set traps for me along my path.

⁶ I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
    Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
⁷ Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
    you shield my head in the day of battle.
⁸ Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
    do not let their plans succeed.

⁹ Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
    may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
¹⁰ May burning coals fall on them;
    may they be thrown into the fire,
    into miry pits, never to rise.
¹¹ May slanderers not be established in the land;
    may disaster hunt down the violent.

¹² I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy.
¹³ Surely the righteous will praise your name,
    and the upright will live in your presence.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 60)

Psalm 60

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹ You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
    you have been angry—now restore us!
² You have shaken the land and torn it open;
    mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
³ You have shown your people desperate times;
    you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
⁴ But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
   to be unfurled against the bow.

⁵ Save us and help us with your right hand,
    that those you love may be delivered.
⁶ God has spoken from his sanctuary:
    “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
    and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
⁷ Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah is my scepter.
⁸ Moab is my washbasin,
    on Edom I toss my sandal;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹ Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰ Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
    and no longer go out with our armies?
¹¹ Give us aid against the enemy,
    for human help is worthless.
¹² With God we will gain the victory,
    and he will trample down our enemies.

 

The Joy of Unit-Reading #51 (the Book of I Chronicles)

We are making great progress in unit-reading the books of the Bible! What book or books are YOU unit-reading?
I’ve learned a lot from reading I Chronicles, such as individuals and their names matter to the Lord! I’ve also learned that He is a warrior and wants us to fight the battles He lays out for us! Here are my notes:

My prayer for today: “Lord, help me to give freely and wholeheartedly to You — and to Your people! In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

 

Time for a Great Quote: John Piper on Being Prepared for Battle!

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 24)

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.^[a]

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.^[b][c]

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—
    he is the King of glory.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 18, conclusion)

Psalm 18^[a]

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

¹ I love you, Lord, my strength.

² The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield^[b] and the horn^[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.

³ I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and I have been saved from my enemies.
⁴ The cords of death entangled me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
⁵ The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called to the Lord;
    I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
    my cry came before him, into his ears.
⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
    and the foundations of the mountains shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
    consuming fire came from his mouth,
    burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
    dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
    he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
    the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
    with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the voice of the Most High resounded.^[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
    with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
    and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
    at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
    according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
    I am not guilty of turning from my God.
²² All his laws are before me;
    I have not turned away from his decrees.
²³ I have been blameless before him
    and have kept myself from sin.
²⁴ The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵ To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
    to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
²⁶ to the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ You save the humble
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
²⁸ You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.
²⁹ With your help I can advance against a troop^[e];
    with my God I can scale a wall.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields all who take refuge in him.
³¹ For who is God besides the Lord?
    And who is the Rock except our God?
³² It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.
³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
    my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,
    and your right hand sustains me;
    your help has made me great.
³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,
    so that my ankles do not give way.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
    I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise;
    they fell beneath my feet.
³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle;
    you humbled my adversaries before me.
⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
    and I destroyed my foes.
⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
    to the Lord, but he did not answer.
⁴² I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
    I trampled them^[f] like mud in the streets.
⁴³ You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
    you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
⁴⁴     foreigners cower before me;
    as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
⁴⁵ They all lose heart;
    they come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
    Exalted be God my Savior!
⁴⁷ He is the God who avenges me,
    who subdues nations under me,
⁴⁸     who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
    from a violent man you rescued me.
⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing the praises of your name.

⁵⁰ He gives his king great victories;
    he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
    to David and to his descendants forever.

 

What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 3 of 10)

How should believers in Jesus respond to the UNBELIEF they see in the world around them?  We know that we are to evangelize, that is, spread the Good News about Jesus.  How else ought we to respond?

We have already seen in verses 1-4 that we must keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  We’ve also noticed, second, that we must be aware of attacks on the Christian Faith (vv. 3-4).

Let’s notice the third part of our response to the unbelief of the world:
Step #3-  We must Be Prepared to Do Battle for the Faith (vv. 3-4)!

When I was in high school, I dreaded wrestling class.  In North Carolina, it was referred to as “wraslin’ class,” but I still hated it.  It seemed that I would always be paired with some sweaty fat guy who would pin me with no difficulty.  The wraslin’ room had pads on the floor and posters on the ceiling that had sayings like, “If you can read this, congratulations!  You’ve been pinned!”  Or “How’s the view, Loser?”  I was the speed reader of those signs for my entire gym class.

No one likes to get pinned, but contending for the faith involves wrestling on behalf of its truth.  We must prepare ourselves for such battles.  For myself, I have found that I need to occassionally read books that attack the Christian faith so I will know what the specific challenges are. (to be continued)

“I will not die without fighting for a life I am not yet done living.”
― Bethany Wiggins, Stung

“Always walk away from a fight. Then ambush.”
― Tim Dorsey, Gator A-Go-Go

“That fighting of a battle without belief is, I think, the sorriest task which ever falls to the lot of any man.” (Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm)

“The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.” (Thucydides)

Questions:
1.  What is one specific battle that you are fighting right now?  Is it worth it?

2.  What role does prayer play in your battle for the souls of men and women?

 

 

 

Questions:
1.  In what way(s) do you see your Christian life more as a vacation than as a battle?

2.  If it is truly a battle, what one practical step can you take to get in the battle?