Overcome Evil With Good

Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Mat 12:35  The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 

Mat 12:36  And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 

Mat 12:37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Col 3:14  and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 

Col 3:15  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. 

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. 

Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Imitate What is Good

3Jn 1:11  Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: he that doeth evil hath not seen God.  

John is speaking to Christians.  Christians have repented of sins and believe that Jesus died for their sins and is risen from the grave. He lives and because he lives, we live. Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins? Do you believe in him as the way to eternal life?  Just acting good is not enough, we must believe in Jesus who was all good and who shed his blood as payment for our sins..  The good news is he invites us to be with him in heaven forever.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

The Remnant

Zep 3:10  From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. 

Zep 3:11  In that day shalt thou not be put to shame for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain. 

The LORD always resists the proud. 

Pro 8:13  The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the perverse mouth, do I hate. 

Zep 3:12  But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the name of Jehovah. 

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 

Zep 3:13  The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 

Isa 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters. 

Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 

Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup runneth over. 

Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for ever. 

This Psalm is often used at funerals, but it is for the living, the remnant who have faith in Jesus their shepherd. We should trust in him for he is our loving shepherd, the King of kings and eternal living God. In him I trust.

A Pure Language

Zep 3:6  I have cut off nations; their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. 

Zep 3:7  I said, Only fear thou me; receive correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings. 

Zep 3:8  Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 

This would be at the end, the Day of the LORD.

Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Zep 3:9  For then will I turn to the peoples of a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent.

At the time of the Millennium, when Jesus will rule on earth for a thousand years; perhaps there again will be a common language. Some suggest it will be Hebrew. I also see this as a people no longer speaking evil things from evil hearts. They will have a pure language from clean hearts.

A Rebellious City

The prophet speaks of a rebellious city, Jerusalem, under a wicked ruler. This could apply to our capitol city as well.

Zep 3:1  Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! 

Zep 3:2  She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God. 

Zep 3:3  Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning. 

Zep 3:4  Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men; her priests profane what is holy; they do violence to the law. 

Zep 3:5  The LORD within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame. 

The LORD God is within her; how so?  I see the LORD in the framing of our constitution. There are quotes from the Bible on the monuments. 

“Holiness to the Lord”    “Search the Scriptures”    “May Heaven to this Union continue its beneficence,”   “Praise be to God”     “In God We Trust”    “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding”

There are the ten commandments in the supreme court and the laws of God dwell within His people who are called to witness His love and goodness. There is prayer going up within the city for God's mercy and grace and to overcome the evil and that which was stolen.  Our prayers are for the city, the laws, the rulers and for justice and truth. I ask the Lord to be merciful to our nation, for there are many sins. May all who call on your name, repent and seek your mercy and grace, in the name of Jesus. Amen

Deep calls to Deep

Psa 42:7  Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 

Perhaps you have experienced swimming in the ocean and being pushed under water by a crashing wave? All you can do in this circumstance is to wait it out until the wave passes by. The events of the past year and the aftermath of the election have kept many under the waves, with our lives hurled about by the currents of events. Our freedoms are being assaulted.  Conservatives have become the enemy and our president is kept isolated away from twitter and other media that connect with his followers.  Joe Biden is weak and influenced by the left that seeks the interests of the globalist; those seeking control of the information and economics. The news media has been nothing but propaganda. There is little objective news. We are being told what we should believe and what is politically correct. We must look to God who is still in control and his word is truth.

Psa 119:160  The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. 

John 17:17  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

Psa 42:8  By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 

Psa 42:9  I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 

Psa 42:10  As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 

Psa 42:11  Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 

The Solid Rock

It Is Written

Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Here is our answer to the devil when he tempts; speak the word of God. The just shall live by faith. We do not fight the devil in physical ways, we do not allow him to control our fleshly desires by catering to lusts of the flesh. Satan always comes at us through the flesh, he wants us to work in the natural world, but Jesus shows us what we must do. The devil is a spirit, a fallen angel with a host of demons sent to do his work in the minds and bodies of the spiritually weak. Cutting our body, eating disorders, addictions to sexual desires, these are all encouraged by satan and his devils. To resist the devil we must use our Spiritual weapons, the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. We must wear the whole Spiritual armor of God as written in Ephesians 6.

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We resist the devil by obeying God and speaking his word.

We have those days when we are feeling out of sorts.  Keep going, read the word of God, speak the name of Jesus.  He is our strength and things will get better. Reach out to help or encourage someone else.

Gal 6:9  And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

Gal 6:10  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 

Tempted of the Devil

Luke 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

Luke 4:3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

The devil comes to us to tempt us with the desires and lusts of the flesh. There is nothing wrong with eating bread, but to obey Satan's command is sin. Jesus came to do the Father's will, not the devil's will. Fasting for forty days was accompanied by prayer to the Father, the flesh was denied and this was a time of spiritual connection and direction from the Father. But even alone in the wilderness, satan intrudes as the serpent intruded into the garden of Eden. When we are physically weak and exhausted he comes to steal, kill and destroy by lies and deceit. Remember that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, he was in God's will even though he was being tempted of the devil. This was for our example.

First things first

 

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

I AM the LORD thy God.  The I AM that spoke to Moses in the burning bush sending him to Egypt to represent him and to free Israel, His chosen people. The people that God chose to reveal His will and plans. This is the first of the ten commandments.

The first words in the Bible speak of God, the creator of all things. 

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

We need to get this truth in our hearts. God is creator and his will should be obeyed. He gives us a free will to choose between truth and falsehood.  To choose what is right in the mind of God or to go another way.

We are in a new beginning of a new year. Last year was real drama. There was the fear of the pandemic and the folly of elected leaders. Credit should be given to President Trump to bring a solution; a vaccine to fight the virus. More damage was done by the wrong thinking of godless leaders, culminating in what so many see as a falsified election. Stalin the ruthless communist dictator of Russia once said:

"I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this--who will count the votes, and how."

 Our nation was founded on truth and the belief in God. It will require God fearing people who stand for the traditional values--Truth, Justice and Freedom, the American way.  Patriots, stand on your values and be the light in a darkened world. God help us all.