“ When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. ” (Psalm 94:18-19)

Thought I would comment on today’s scripture verse.

Much of Psalm 94 up to these verses has been calling for judgement against those that oppose the Lord.

But verses 18-19 focus on the individual, the believer. When we recognize that we are being tempted by those that oppose God, by things that pull us away from God, take our focus off the path He has laid out before us, we can call upon God for support.

When we focus on God, when we trust in His way, we are better equipped to face the challenges that a sinful world place before us. With God’s guidance in our daily, hourly, and in our total lives, we grow closer and more faithful to Him.

There are challenges in our lives, things that we cannot understand. But know that God is always there with us. He suffered with us in Jesus, and in death is with us always in the good and the bad.

If you are hurting, lost, or trapped in a life you where you are unhappy. Call out to God, let Him be your support. Invite Him into your life, your pain and your joys. Know God is there, loving you as He does all His children.

“But the LORD has become my fortress,
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.” (v.22)

God be with you ’til we meet again

Spiritual warfare seems to be the theme of the week.

We went to hear a friend of ours preach on Sunday, and heard his final sermon that has been part of a series on Spiritual warfare.

As we were driving to and from Halifax yesterday morning, listening to the new Christian radio station in Halifax (CJLU) and we heard several evangelists talking about spiritual warfare on three different shows.

On a message board that I frequent, a member started a discussion on spiritual warfare.

This brings me to seminaries/theological schools. I’m not proposing that all schools are like this, but I know that my school is not alone in this. As potential and future leaders of the church, we are prime targets for satan. I know myself that I get tired, the classroom texts can dull my senses as I get lost in the world of academia.

That is why I look to worship to lift me out of that low place, to bring me back to my focus, the reason that I am in a theological school, learning to serve God as one who will be in leadership of His people.

But, I’m not the only one who is tired. We all are. We spend so much time working on classes and other related activities, that planning worship is not a priority. I do not try to fall into this trap. This year I will refuse to fall into this trap. Worship is a place where God is to be lifted up, where we as students need to be reminded of where our focus ought to be. Worship is more important for us as students than anything else. Because we are under attack, and by reminding ourselves of why we are going through more education, swamping ourselves in textbooks and papers and reports and readings, we can maintain our purpose, our focus on God, our drive in our ministry.

Worship in theological schools needs to be more than just another thing that happens, a routine. It must become a place where we are reminded of our purpose, that we are not studying for job, but learning a vocation. We need to know that God is with us, but also that we need to be filled spiritually as well as academically so that we are able to fend of satan when he tries to manipulate and corrupt us as we begin our ministries.

When we are down, when things don’t go our way, we tend to want to take the easy way out. But we all know where the easy path leads…

‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.’ Matthew 7:13-14

The challenge then becomes, that even when we are tired and struggling with the workload, on top of other obligations (church, family, friends, etc), how do we stay on the narrow road? I think that worship that is prepared with intention and purpose is a big step on staying on the narrow road, for when the easy path is taken in preparing worship, the easy path is what the worshippers see.