Tag Archives: Spirit

Singing with the King (92) – The Big Question

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? (Psalm 15:1)

That is a good question. The Apostle Paul’s take on this question could be:

If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more. I don’t know what to choose. I could keep on living and doing something useful. It is a hard choice to make. I want to die and be with Christ, because that would be much better. (Phil 1:21-23)

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-12)

So for King David, for the Apostle Paul—and for the follower of Christ—our greatest goal is to be with the Lord.

Now there are times when David asks questions, but no answer is forthcoming, because like us, he is waiting on the LORD for an answer. But this time, in this short little Psalm, we have the answer to the question. Now understand, the Psalmist doesn’t give the names of those who may abide, who may dwell (only the LORD knows who are His.) But he does give a description. Does it describe you?

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.

In just this one sentence it talks about your walk, your works, and your words. Your walk is the sort way of saying how you live your life. It’s your worldview. Works are obviously what your do. And words are what you say. It’s your character, your actions and your speech that exhibit integrity, righteous living, and a truthful heart.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (Psalm 84:11)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. (Ephesians 4:15)

But wait. You don’t have to wait for Heaven to dwell with God. As a follower of Christ, you have His Spirit dwelling within you here and now:

People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. If we follow our desires, we cannot please God. You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God’s Spirit, who lives in you. People who don’t have the Spirit of Christ in them don’t belong to him. But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. Yet God raised Jesus to life! God’s Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit. (Romans 8:5-11)

I asked earlier if David’s description describes you. It should. People should see the life-transforming effects that the Spirit of God has upon you. You walk, your works, and your words will show that you are abiding and dwelling with the LORD.

Singing with the King (41) – A Lock on Religion

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He has revealed his words to Jacob, His decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. (Psalm 147:19-20)

lock and key It’s easy to understand why the Pharisees we so comfortable with their religion—they believed they had a lock on access to the One True God. The also believed they had a lock on the location: For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. (2 Chronicles 7:16)

In fact, they believed all nations would only come to His mountain (Jerusalem) to worship: Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:22-3)

And: All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name. (Psalm 86:9)

And they were right…

But then something wondrous happened: Jesus came. And in a rather significant conversation with someone He shouldn’t have had a conversation with (a Samaritan woman), Christ changes all that exclusivity talk: Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24)

lock and key 2 We see, as Christ said, that salvation comes through the Jews, it starts with the Jews. But it’s no longer about the Mosaic ritual; rather it’s about worshiping in spirit and truth, for God is spirit. Those who will worship in spirit and truth Lord may do so from any where. This was great news for the Samaritans (see John 4:39-42) and for us Gentiles. This then gives a different interpretation to the above passage from Psalm 86. We can now come and worship before You, O Lord, any where and at any time. This is what Christ has accomplished for us. Why not worship Him now?

Singing with the King (39) – I Was Glad

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I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)

Church Worship4 This Psalm was written by David, and it is one of 15 “Songs of Ascents”. And although there is no way to know the actual meaning of this term, many believe these were the Psalms the priests and pilgrims sang as they made their way through Jerusalem up to the Temple.

When David composed this, there was no Temple, just the Tabernacle. But don’t you hear his enthusiasm in this verse? I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Here is David with his family, friends, advisers, officers, etc., etc., and for a time, the intrigue, the infighting, the jockeying for position, the plans for peace, the plans for war—all have been put on hold because they are on their way to come before the LORD; and the worship begins when they start singing these Psalms. I believe David gave his whole heart when he went to the house of the LORD. That kind of example is infectious.

Are you glad to go to the house of the LORD? Are you excited to worship and exalt the Lord together with other believers? Or has it become Ritual? Habitual? All the joy and gladness has been squeezed out and replaced by the ordinary and routine.

Find the joy and gladness again. Understand that this enthusiasm which David exhibited and proclaimed was not about singing, or sacrifices, or service. It was about meeting with the Most High.

Unlike the people of the Old Testament, You have God’s Spirit within you. The Everlasting, Almighty, All-Knowing and Infinite God lives within you. He has given you eternal and abundant life. If all these limitless and unending characteristics and graces have touched you, are all around you, and abide in you, how can you be bored (or boring)?

May you be ignited by His glory and His presence. May others see you are glad to go to the house of the LORD.

Singing with the King (26) – One Thing: (2) Perspective

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One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD. (Psalm 27:4)

One thing. This is a very unifying approach to life, to faith—to whatever. The Hebrew text could actually say: One one I have asked. It may sound redundant, but think about it. Life is filled with one things that we must do, that need our attention. But what is the one One? Or should I say, Who is the only One. Four areas of your life will be changed forever by making the Lord, The One: Priority, Perspective, Purpose, and Practice.

Perspective:

New Heart, New Eyes, New Perspective

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ (John 16:13-15)

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

For too long we’ve adopted an incorrect perspective; looking at life from the underside with earthly eyes, rather than from the topside with spiritual eyes. We have been given the mind of Christ, and we need to see us as He sees us. And we need to see the world as He sees the world. Unfortunately, our thinking dwells upon too much on the wrong things and not enough on the One Thing. Follow David’s lead. Change your your perspective. You’re seated with Him in the heavenly places–right now.