Every morning starts a new day…  You do wrong, and you’re thrown down hard.  If you are what you called yourself, a quitter, you don’t get up again; but if you are a man you make a new beginning.”
              –William MacLeod Raine  (Sons of the Saddle)

    “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.”
              –Proverbs 24:16 (HCSB)
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When you read the Psalms of David you will notice that there is some kind of battle taking place in most of them.  The battle may be against physical enemies or the enemy of his soul.  Sometimes both.  It seems that there are very few that show a life of ease, but they do show a life of victory even though there may be wounds and turmoil along the way.  George O. Wood stated, “Until we are in God’s eternal presence, there is always another battle to be faced, another enemy to be dealt with.”
    Let’s turn again to Psalm 21, this time to verses 8-13 (HCSB) and see how David faces his enemies.

    8 – Your hand will capture all your enemies; your right hand will seize those who hate you.
    9 – You will make them burn like a fiery furnace when you appear; the Lord will engulf them in His wrath, and fire will devour them.
   10 – You will wipe their descendants from the earth and their offspring from the human race.
   11 – Though they intend to harm you and devise a wicked plan, they will not prevail.
   12 – Instead, you will put them to flight when you aim your bow at their faces.
   13 – Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength; we will sing and praise Your might.

It seems that David recognizes that God also has enemies.  There are people under the control of Satan that try to fight against God.  In this we see that he has the perspective that during the battle it is not over until we stop and give praise to the Lord.
    There is also shown something of that final war against the Lord and its results.  The Lord will devour His enemies with fire.  They may laugh and mock Him before the battle but when it is over they face a blazing oven.  They plan evil against the Lord, however, they will not be successful.  It seems like this is happening more and more often today.  People are planning and plotting against God; trying to invent ways to fight and defeat Him.  God is not worried!

              “Yea, Amen!  let all adore Thee,
               High on Thine eternal throne;
               Savior, take the power and glory;
               Claim the Kingdom for Thine own:
               O come quickly, O come quickly,
               Hallelujah!  Come, Lord, come.”
                      –John Cennick

In the midst of our struggles, our battles remember the attacks that are upon the Lord.  Trust in Him and don’t despair.  Victory is assured.  Lean upon His strength.

    Prayer:  “Lord, may I enlarge my understanding of Your strength–which is far more than the strength to do whatever You want.  Your strength is that of character:  fidelity, covenant-keeping, unfailing love, mercy, kindness, and goodness.  Help me today to have that kind of strength.”
              –George O. Wood

He had brought his family up modestly, to know the value of money, to be happy working toward a definite end, to be little influenced by the outside world.”
              –Zane Grey  (30,000 on the Hoof)   

    “And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.”
              –Mark 6:31 (NKJV)
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I’m get so weary and tired and the bureaucrats–especially the liberals.  They weary me to the bone with their gab.  I don’t know if that is a mental tiredness or spiritual.  Probably both since we wrestle continually against wickedness in high places.  There is also that physical weariness that comes from hard work.  Most of the time I do my own writing, maybe gaining an idea from someplace else or a song or poem.  But since many of you are tired as well, I found this in my reading and thought I’d share it with you.  This was by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of my favorite writers.
    Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28, NKJV)  “The Gospel announces that rest is only to be found in a knowledge of God, because God has made us, and He had made us in such a way that we never can know rest apart from Him.  The great Augustine of Hippo put that perfectly when he said, ‘Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.’
    “You can scale the heights or plumb the depths, you can travel around the world, as many people have done, trying to find rest and peace, but you will never find it.  God has so made us–and this is the glory and dignity of man–that nothing can finally be made at rest until our souls are satisfied in God.  And the world, I suggest to you, is an eloquent sermon on that particular theme.  With all that we have in the modern world of wealth and culture and education and everything else, look at the picture of unutterable restlessness all around us.  ‘”There is no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.”‘ (Isaiah 57:21 (NKJV)  There is no rest apart from a knowledge of God.
    “The Lord alone can give us this knowledge.  ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…’. (Matthew 11:28-29, NKJV) Notice the personal reference; all along He is pointing to Himself.  Yes, but He is doing more than that–He is contrasting Himself with everybody else.  His claim is that ‘Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’ (Matthew 11:27, NKJV) He says that not only can He give us this knowledge of God, but that no one and nothing else can give us and create this knowledge in us.”
    Isn’t it interesting that there are so many clamoring for rest, peace and safety, yet they fight so hard against the only One that can grant it?  Just look at the God-haters, the atheists–they spend so much time and effort fighting against God instead of finding rest in Him.
    One other thought to ponder.  Look at the last part of verse 29 and also verse 30.  To rest, we pick up His yoke and His burden.  In other words, we rest in what He has for us.  The soul will be in turmoil until it comes to know Christ, then and only then will there be rest.
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  The Mexican army arrives in Goliad on its way back to Mexico.

Wantin’ takes too much time.  I’d rather be working.”
                   –Larry McMurtry  (Lonesome Dove)

       “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
                   –Matthew 16:27(NKJV)
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I came across information about the hymn below.  In World War II, U.S. pilots would sing this song together before striking out on bombing missions over Germany.  It was also sung over the graveside of many soldiers and airmen who, while on mission, crossed over into heaven.  The fulfilled their duty and gave the ultimate sacrifice.

           “Be still, my soul:  the Lord is on thy side;
            Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
            Leave to thy God to order and provide;
            In every change, He faithful will remain.
            Be still, my soul:  thy best, thy heavenly Friend
            Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

            Be still, my soul:  the hour is hastening on
            When we shall be forever with the Lord,
            When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
            Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
            Be still, my soul:  when change and tears are past,
            All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.”
                         –Katharina von Schlegel

There are very few sermons about the “blessed hope” coming from our pulpits today.  I think that interesting when with all of the “junk” that is happening in the world and in this country that there wouldn’t be more sermons about the coming of the Lord and His taking us home to glory.
    I go back and read the first two and a half chapters of Romans.  My mercy, isn’t that where we are living today?  “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” (1:22, NKJV)  Listen to some of them when they open their mouths.  How much foolishness can one person spew?  Because of the mockery of God and scorning Him, He “gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts…” (1:24, NKJV)
    Because of the times in which we live, how much more should we be hearing–“Look up!”  Instead of trying to make those in the church feel good by fellowship, harmony, tickle-your-ears sermons, there should be messages saying, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28, NKJV)  We should be comforting one another with these words.  In other words, we should be living in the thought of the “blessed hope”.
    Take time and read Romans 3:9-18 and see if it doesn’t make you cringe, for it is the very thing we are seeing in the streets of America and even in the halls of government from the local level to the highest.  When people say that a chicken sandwich makes them feel threatened, well, not only are we living in perilous times, but in foolish times as well.  Watch out for the fool, for they are extremely dangerous.
    However, in the midst of all of this, rejoice–the Lord is with you.  Though changes come your way, and they could come in many forms, the Lord is right there beside you.  “Be still my soul,” – don’t sweat the small stuff.  Live one day at a time in the blessed hope.

Hardship was healthy; most people did not enjoy enough of it for their own good.”
              –Elmer Kelton  (Stand Proud)

       “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
              –2 Corinthians 4:17 (NKJV)
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I used to watch with my Dad, one of his favorite television shows–Stoney Burke.  This particular episode showed the young rising, cowboy star Stoney Burke in quest for the gold buckle get scratched from the list of riders.  The story continues but the idea was that a man stepped up and offered Stoney the same amount of money he might win throughout the whole year.  This man was willing to give the money to Stoney just to have his own way.  Stoney refused, saying that he wanted to be given the gold buckle, not the money, by winning it.
    This reminded me of one of the temptations of Christ.  “Again, the devil took Him [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.'” (Matthew 4:8-9, NASB)  Here, this is yours, don’t worry about anything–the pain of the cross you will not have to bear.
    Jesus was the “God/man”; he was always God, but while on this earth He lived as a man.  He went through the same temptations that men faced.  He did it as a man.  He knew His mission on earth would require His death.  In the garden there was that agonizing time when He asked the Father, if He was willing, to remove this cup from Him.  Since His disciples were sleeping an angel appeared to Him and gave Him strength. (Luke 22:41-44).
    Jesus refused the “easy way” when the devil tempted Him.  He would endure the cross for the “joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).  He did this as a man.  When in the garden, He prayed for deliverance as a man.  Yet, also as a man He said He would submit to His Father’s will.
    We should follow His example and pray, not my will, but Yours be done, Lord.  We should not succumb to the devil, but submit to God and obey so that we can be given that great reward, “His Lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’” (Matthew 25:21, NASB)
    He was a man when they crucified Him and laid Him in the tomb, but it was His divine nature that would not let Him stay dead.  He defeated the grave and death so that we can have eternal fellowship with Him.