Trip Up the Devil. Praise God!

Psalm 34:3 - Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. 

I will never, I'm convinced, stop being amazed at God. Will I ever get over how one thought zips through my mind and causes me to think...and when the thought's been established, even blogged, there is confirmation of what I've thought/written? I've been on the praising God thought process. I can't shake it.

God is amazing because it's all about how He shares His wisdom. It's about how He speaks to those who listen. Here's a framed comment I have hanging on a wall in our house:

So this morning I decided to have a cup of coffee and turn on Jentezen Franklin on one of the Christian networks. His topic was on praise! The title of his message was A Throne for a King. Our praises should be lifted up to Him continually, despite whatever is happening or whatever we feel. When they are He inhabits them. He inhabits them.

Briefly, Franklin was discussing 2Samuel 19-22 where David had been hiding for fear of his life from his son Absalom who wanted to kill his father and take over his throne. Well, Absalom is now dead and David is free to return to his throne over Israel. Franklin showed how this is like us, with fear, doubt, sin, unforgiveness, illness, anything that keeps us from praising God also keeps Him from his rightful throne in our hearts.

Franklin quoted Mike Murdock: Gratitude is the seed for God to do more in our lives. Oh, how I believe that. We should always be grateful for what Jesus has done for us...not cling to what is occurring right now in our lives. Praise Him. The more praise, the closer He is to us. This praise is to be shown at all times. When we are on our own in our own daily lives...and when we are gathered together...corporate praise and worship.

Psalm 100:4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Psalm 107:32 - Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders. 

Psalm 109:30 - I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

Psalm 150:1 - Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty firmament! 

2Samuel 19 describes how David was free to return but the tribe of Judah was the only tribe not ready for his return. The name Judah means I will praise the LORD. Judah was not praising right now! And because of this David hesitated to return. He sent a message to the priests: "Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace...you are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king."

Is this what we do when we fail to praise the Lord? Does He want to return to the throne of our hearts when we refuse to praise Him? Does this happen in our daily lives? Does this happen when we are in worship in church? Is there something that prevents us from entering into worship? Later in chapter 19 it is said that the men of Judah gathered at Gilgal before meeting the king (David) to bring him back. Franklin explained Gilgal was a place of circumcision. What needs to be circumcised in our hearts if we fail to praise God? We are to let go of the things that prevent us from praising...again, fear, doubt, unforgiveness, attitudes, illness. David as king was forgiving and ordered no one to be put to death for their actions. Jesus as King will do the same when we gather first at our spiritual Gilgal.

When we fail to praise God, even for a time, the throne is empty. Praising creates a throne (or even an altar) and God comes down to regain access to it. He again inhabits the throne. Continuous praise allows God continuous access to our hearts. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will inhabit our praises.

I believe this goes for worship on Sunday mornings too. Sometimes we don't like the worship. It might make it difficult to praise God. Are we to not praise Him, though? Aren't we, like anything else we encounter in life, to praise Him? Aren't we to go through the circumstance and instead of grousing, complaining or whining, or being stubborn, praise God? Is He in the throne of one's heart when we do this? Where is our focus at that time? Aren't we to always look up to the Lord, past the circumstances? We cannot deny God the praise due Him, even if the music doesn't suit us. We have turned our backs on Him. Franklin said this: When you don't praise the Lord properly, the King does not take His throne. Why do we allow a momentary disagreement cause division and an empty throne?

This goes for our personal lives too. Praise Him for what we already have. If we do that we can be assured that He will continue to give. He will continue to fight the enemy on our behalf, take away the fear and doubt, strengthen bodies and minds when we need it most, bring peace to weary souls. Maybe, just maybe, our problems linger because we have stopped praising God and He is no longer on the throne of our heart.

He will be King over any problem, King over disease...if we praise Him. But we must first receive Him into our lives and hearts, allowing Him to work in us. If He is the answer to our needs, as some know, there should be a throne in our hearts for Him. Perhaps even for this nation...He is no longer King of this nation. The enemy has settled in. We can praise Him for what we've had and what He's given us. If we bring Him back to His rightful place in our country, perhaps things will turn around again.

We must all circumcise our hearts, remove all thoughts and actions that prevent the King in our lives and in our churches. Yield to the King, ignore man. Focus on Him and worship Him; ignore man. It's between me (and you) and God. Man is the distraction...what the enemy wants. Look up; focus on Him. We have to shed our attitudes to get in the presence of God. It isn't always going to be just the way we want it. Get over whatever "it" is and praise God. If Paul could praise God in a dirty, miserable prison cell, we can let our personal feelings go at home or in the church.

When we praise God with all our hearts, the issues of life or present circumstances will banish. Why? Because He has come back to His throne. It's impossible to harbor anything bad when we are praising Him. It's not about our feelings; it's about God. It's our sacrifice... It's about our heart attitude and where we are focused. It's our choice...God on the throne of our hearts or not. Ignore the feelings and praise God.

Franklin pointed this out: 1Samuel 22:5 - But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. Is that a word for us? Don't remain in the stronghold that we have made of whatever circumstance? Get out of there. Go into the land of Judah...and begin to praise the Lord, a place where God will reign. A commentary on verse five says that we are not to stay in this stronghold (which was literally in a foreign land). Go to a land to be among friends. The forest of Hereth was normally a desert land, but the Lord made it well watered and fruitful. Our enemy wants us in the stronghold. Let's get out of the stronghold and into our land of praise where the King will be back on His throne. Trip up the devil! Praise God. 

2Samuel 22:25 - The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight. [A praise from King David.]

Cut a Covenant

Genesis 15:18 - On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land...

God is a God of covenant. The Hebrew meaning of covenant is to cut. In the ancient days covenants were cut between two people. Animals were used to solidify this deal. They were cut in two and placed opposite each other and each man walked between the cut pieces. There was an understanding that if either one broke that covenant they would end up like the animal.

God told Abram, as we saw yesterday, that the land he saw would be his and all his descendants'. Abram asked how he would know that it would be his. This was the beginning of this covenant.

God asked Abram to bring him two of three types of animals and birds (even the number and types of animals have rich meaning). The animals were to be cut in two. Abram was probably beginning to get the picture. As Abram fell into a deep, God-induced sleep, a smoking oven and burning torch passed between the pieces of meat. The oven and torch were God Himself. I'm assuming the deep sleep was because Abram would not be able to survive the very presence of God. "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”(Exodus 33:20). Note, though, that it was customary for two to walk through the sacrificial animals. Only God walked through, making the covenant His covenant with us. It will never be broken because God never changes. We are the ones who will so choose to break it. Also...wasn't Jesus the only one who died for our sins?

So God's covenant was made. Yet there's more! Abram had no offspring. He reminded God of this (like He needs it), I'm sure, when he heard the words "you and your descendants." Thus the LORD had to let Abram know that He would produce those offspring. Never fear.... And that's where a bit of trouble comes in. Abram has his first son, not through his wife Sarai, but through her handmaiden, which was not what God had in mind. Although God honored this firstborn son in one way, it was not the honor that was initially intended.

After the birth of Ishmael (and the link to the Islamic nation) God spoke again to the covenant that He had with Abram and how he would become the father of many nations, with arai. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you (Genesis 17:7). In verse 8 God says again that the land he is in would be part of that inheritance.

Oh, how deep this gets! Just as God covenants with Abram so He covenants with us as we receive Him, as we sacrifice our lives for Him, as we separate (divide) from the old person to the new and from the world to become strangers in this world, set apart as children of God, children of the inheritance, children of the promise or covenant, not the world.

So it continues, Sarai bore Isaac, the true son of the inheritance. There is one more cutting that needs to take place. The ritual of circumcision. It was as a sign of the covenant. Genesis 17:10 - This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised. It was a sign that separated the Jews as well as those bought as slaves then from the non-Jew. I look at this as a type of difference between the believer today and the non-believer. Our hearts have been circumcised to the Lord. Romans 2:29 - ...circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter...

Interesting to note that Ishmael was also circumcised as one within the household. I wonder if this was to maintain some relationship, as it were, with God? There is no one not invited into relationship with God, and even back then, God honored Ishmael. The Muslims are invited yet today.

We as Gentiles are grafted into the heritage and inheritance through Christ. Grafted...isn't that another form of cutting? Romans 11:17 gives us hint about this: And if some of the branches were broken off [Jews], and you, being a wild olive tree [Gentiles], were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree...  When we choose Christ we are like of the wild olive stock that is grafted in. 

An interesting verse shows a type today for non-believers: Genesis 17:14 - And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant. The covenant with God is out there for all people. If it is presented to us and we do not want a part of it, we will, in the end, be cut off. Cut off. More cutting.

There are numerous scriptures in reference to cutting. Anything that causes us sin should be figuratively cut off. Branches that do not bear fruit are normally pruned or cut off...that also means Christians whose lives are not lived in a way to bear fruit...they are removed. Our hearts can be cut by the Word of God, which is a good thing. We begin to realize the truths that lie there and they pierce our souls, laying bare our wrong thinking, our sin, our weaknesses.

God desires to cut a covenant with all mankind. He did that through Jesus Christ who became the Savior of all. When we enter into covenant with Him, He does as He did with Abram. We have made the sacrifice of our lives like Abram did. God has honored that with the sacrifice of His Son. God will not walk out on that covenant. 

Colossians 2:11 - In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ...