How can we glorify God?

Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

We can do good works to the glory of God, but how much more is He glorified when we call upon Him in times of trouble and He shows His great strength by delivering us - by His good works! 

Can you be good without God?

Can you define good without God?

No!

Vindicated, for His name's sake!

How many people deny God's existence?

How many people deny Jesus is the only Savior from the consequences of our sin?

How many people deny that the Bible is still authoritative in our modern world?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the way the odds seem stacked against us, if we believe these things?

Do not fear, God will vindicate us, because we are His in Jesus Christ, and He will absolutely vindicate Himself!

Psalm 43:1 Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

Psalm 54:1 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.

Psalm 109:21 But You, O GOD the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
²⁵ I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.

²⁶ Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
²⁷ That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!

 

I would love to see all people come to know the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, and I can't look down on anyone, because what I have in Jesus is 100% by His grace. However, I hate to see His enemies appear to prosper as they defame His name, and it is comforting to know that God's existence, the necessity of Jesus' sacrifice for sin, and the eternal relevance of God's word, will be fully and finally vindicated!

 

Rev. 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. ¹³ He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵ Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

 

KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.

 

Some will still not want Him, but they won't be able to deny Him!

 

He will be vindicated!

 

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

 

Ouch, from Voddie Bauchum and Wretched Radio!

Sticks, stones, and words can hurt me, really?

I want to be clear, I am not OK with bullying or name calling, I think they are quite sinful and don't deny they can cause pain. However, I am shocked at the change of attitude regarding dealing with people's hurtful words since I was a child. I fear far more damage will be done as society shifts the focus from ignoring hurtful words to silencing them!

When I was young, if someone said mean things to me and I told a parent or teacher, they may or may not have said anything to the one who said the hurtful words, but they would likely have told me - "Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you". This was good advice, because it kept the one on the receiving end of teasing or insults from being enslaved to the opinions of others.

The underlying principle involved was that they had the right to say things to us, even stupid or hateful things, but we were to not see their words as in any way defining us. To suggest to a child or even to an adult, that someone else's words have the power to do the same kind of harm as physical injuries, is to set up a scenario were the only way to protect people is by outlawing some types of speech, as we limit certain kinds of physical contact.

This unfortunately is exactly what is happening. People are being told that suicides, depression and countless other problems are simply the natural and unavoidable result of people being damaged by the words of others. The video below suggests that the suicides of LGBT people, especially youth, are actually caused by the hurtful words of others, especially in the church!

Now, I feel terrible for the youth who got to such a place in their lives that they felt the only option was to take their own lives. Further, I would say there needs to be some sensitivity to were people are at, even when were they are at is in sin. Our goal is to communicate truth, so we need to be tactful when dealing with issues that are likely to cause strong reactions. However, do we really want to affirm to young people, or anybody for that matter, that the words of others are so powerful? Or that being liked and accepted by others is so important? Would it not be far more loving to teach them that the words of others are merely opinions, and only true to the point that they line up with....? 

OK, now I have hit a snag, how are we to evaluate the words of others? If nothing is absolutely true, then there is no reason anyone should ever be offended by anything! If God has given us the truth, then the only thing we really need to consider is whether the words of others line up with what God says.

If you still reject the notion of God's word being knowable, or that the Bible is it, then I at least ask that you consider if you really want to live in a world where what you can and can't say is determined by the individual sensitivities of the 7,000,000,000 other people on the planet?

Or, would you rather advocate free speech, and embrace the reality that - "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me".





Wretched Radio, very well said!

This is a pretty good analogy to expose the error of presenting a man centered gospel message.