◄ ►

The Higher Ground

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1,2 NIV)

Mountains? And the Lord like the mountains? What is that? It is fortification, it is strength, it is protection. And what is the point of fortification if there is nothing against which to be fortified? Away back in Old Testament times, when the people came into the land, the remarkable thing is that they occupied the higher places more than the lower. You will find that their towns, cities and villages are almost all of them upon some high place; the reason being that their enemies, who had chariots and horses, had their strength on the level, in the plain, but they could do nothing with chariots and horses against mountains. And therefore the safety, security and fortification of the Lord people was by being on high places.

That is a parable. If the enemy can get you on to his level he has beaten you. So he must pull you down, he must get you down, he must get you to accept something less than God full place and mind for you, and then he will undo you. That is what he has done with the church, speaking of the church now in very general terms. He has pulled it down to this world level; he has reduced it to the level of things here, and he has absolutely disintegrated it, broken it up and divided it and robbed it of its power. The church which is revealed to us in the New Testament is always on high ground.... In Ephesians, it is n the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.It is a great power to be on high ground, it is a great defensive, protective factor; the enemy can do little with you if you keep up there and refuse to come down. Nehemiah found that to be so, when they said, ome down and let us confer and he said, am doing a great work so that I cannot come down(Neh. 6:3). It is a principle operating.

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. § I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. § Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost.

The Lord takes pleasure in His people. § My delight was with the sons of men. § His great love with which He loved us. § Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. § If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Song 7:10;  2 Tim. 1:12;  Rom. 8:38,39;  John 17:12;  Ps. 149:4;  Prov. 8:31;  Eph. 2:4;  John 15:13;  1 Cor. 6:20;  Rom. 14:8

Search from the book of the Lord.

Lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. § This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. § By the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer. § Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

We have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. § That we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Isa. 34:16;  Deut. 11:18;  Josh. 1:8;  Ps. 37:31;  Ps. 17:4;  Ps. 119:11;  2 Peter 1:19;  Rom. 15:4

Look And Live!

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).

As the plant to the sun, we look to the Son for growth!

"What is the good of a man being ennobled, made a prince of, if he feels he has gained no more or sensible acquisition by it? This is the disappointment which souls feel without being able to account for it; and they are subject to nights of wrestling, because they have rested in their grand title, instead of in the means of supporting their titles, which is dependence on, and ever deepening acquaintance with, the One who has conferred them." -J.B.S.

"I cannot conceive anything more satisfying or cheering to the heart than the consciousness that I may not only draw near, but that I draw near in answer to the thought and interest that the Lord Jesus has about me, and that I draw nigh to enjoy myself in His presence where there is so much thought and interest about me. It is there my heart goes out in acknowledgment of Him in answer to His deep, gracious, and everlasting love."

"By means of the Word, look to the Lord Jesus in faith. Exercise the blessed trust that He is yours, and that He has given Himself to you, and that you have a claim to all that is in Him. It is His purpose to work out His image in you. Behold Him with the joyful and certain expectation: the glory that I behold in Him is destined for me!" -A.M.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).

The Eternal God - Character and Attributes of God (19)

Right Thinking