Hold Me Lord

God Loves You

Matt 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Hold me Lord, when my feet will not stay,
and my only thoughts are to go astray.

Hold me Lord, when I slip and when I fall,
and Your Glory & Righteousness seem way too tall.

Hold me Lord, when all I want is to let go,
when things seem so tough that quitting is the only thing I know.

Hold me Lord, when the weight just ain’t fair,
and I feel like the pain is just too much to bare.

Hold me Lord, when life is going great,
and I need to feel like we are on a date.

Hold me Lord, every single day,
so that I can lead & others can see The Way.

Hold me Lord, so I won’t ever let go,
and with your favor wisdom & favor every day I’ll grow.

Hold me Lord, I need You to hold me!

Happy Anniversary

Family Ministry

Mark 10:7 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

            Yesterday marked nine years of marriage to my beautiful wife Vanessa.   We have been blessed tremendously during the past 3204 days to include three wonderful children, health and employment, along with so many other intangibles.  We have had two major moves and are currently preparing for the next one.  I can honestly say that I love her more today than I did the day I said “I do.”  That being said, let me make this crystal clear: everyday has not been a bed of roses.  There have been many days that have felt more like a bed of nails (like in the old Kung-Fu movies); but there has been a common thread throughout our marriage that has knitted our hearts closer than we ever would/could.

I’ve quoted a familiar scripture from the Gospels.  The content is very important as God has shared a few things that have helped us succeed thus far in marriage.

1.  Roles:  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.  When we made up in our minds we were getting married we determined that our current roles (son, daughter, sister or brother) had to change.  We had to prioritize our new roles as husband and wife, and by doing so, ensure that only the Holy Spirit is an outside decision maker in our marriage.  Ultimately, doing this did not make everyone happy, but we set a precedent for the health of our marriage.

2. Realization:  and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.  In man’s economy 1+1=2 and in most marriages it sometimes equals 6 or more, while in God’s economy 1+1=1.  We had to realize that Jesus has to have center stage in our marriage so when we married we became one.  Achieving this is not easy and definitely something I started learning early on.  There is another important realization: Vanessa and I are a team, not enemies.  It’s difficult to remember at times but after the emotions explode, we have to fall back and remember that we are a team.  This way we battle the enemy (Satan) that is out to destroy everything we stand for and not each other.

3. Reality: Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.  Our reality is that our marriage was put together by God and we are not allowed to break it up.  Our role in this marriage is to trust the Lord more than ever and listen to Him about how to stay together.  We need to know when to push and when to give; when to shout and when to listen; when to love and when to fight; when to get help and when to keep it in house.  Our reality is that marriage is not easy but with God all things are possible, including our marriage.  This is your reality also.  Your marriage may be tough, but with God even your marriage can succeed.

These are a few things that have and continue to help us, but God will give you your keys to success.  We continue to love one another after nine years, but we have so much further to go.  As we continue to live and trust these keys God has given us we will see many more years together.  We are praying that you allow God to do the same in your marriage.  As we celebrate our anniversary today we also celebrate God’s goodness and presence in our marriage.  God bless you all.

It’s Time to Fight

Family Ministry, Uncategorized

1 Sam 30:8 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

Every February, businesses and entrepreneurs alike, flood stores, internet and even the busiest street corners with red roses, plush teddy bears, sweet chocolate and many other tokens representing love and affection.  Unfortunately for many, all of these romantic trinkets will not do anything to mend the hurt, anger and hate that have filled the hearts of so many spouses.   Statistics show that well over 70% of marriages fail and a majority of pre-marital relationships seldom end in matrimony.  The fact is, our enemy the devil, is attacking relationships.  He always has and always will.  The sad thing is that he is not always working solo.  Many have made poor choices that have opened the door for him to enter into relationships and wreak havoc in the lives of so many families.

My wife and kids mean so much to me and I can assure you that if I lost them my LIFE would be drastically impaired.  Divorce is an unbearable reality that many families are dealing with today.  David had an unbearable reality to deal with, but the Lord used his situation to give us wisdom to help many marriages today.  David along with his mighty men returned to their families in Ziklag only to find that the Amalekites had ravaged their homes taking captive their wives and children.  An enemy had literally just destroyed their lives.  David lost everything and the very people he led were ready to kill him.  He was devastated and downtrodden but he had a decision to make.

This February, you too have a decision to make!!  Will you sit back while the enemy steals, kills and destroys your family?  While the enemy picks apart the life you and your spouse have built together, will you sit in disappointment and disbelief or will you follow David’s example and “FIGHT TO GET YOUR LIFE BACK”.  Let’s see what he did.

  1. Strengthened Himself:  vs 6 … But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. This familiar verse is quoted often and there’s a great reason for it.  David was devastated; he was at his lowest point and David had many low points in his life.  Many people going through serious marital problems often find themselves feeling as low as David did.  David understood that he was dealing with something that no counselor, friend or family member was going to be able to help with.  He had to get his strength from the only source that gives power.  Jesus is waiting for us to tap into His power and strength.  Marriages need Jesus in their center, that is the bottom line.  Regardless of the situation your marriage is in, you can gain strength by trusting in Jesus and walking in the strength He has given you.
  2. Worshiped His Savior:  vs 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.  After David was strengthened he went right into worship.  He later donned the linen ephod which was worn originally by the High Priest then by ordinary priests.  They wore it before going into the temple to worship so David wore it so that he could worship the Lord.  David was all out of sorts and confused yet realized that before he could do anything about this situation, he needed to worship the Lord.  Worship is focusing our affection on Jesus.  When we do that we cannot think about or even see anything but Jesus and His amazing Love for us.  Stop looking at the faults of your spouse…worship the Lord.  Rather than trying to fix things that you don’t know how to…worship the Lord.  Worship Jesus and get your focus back.  Remember who God is, all that He has done for you, how much He loves you and all that He is able to do.  When we worship, we place our focus on our solution (Jesus).
  3. Inquired Direction:  vs 8 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”.…  After David worshiped he was ready to get God’s direction.  Now that David’s focus was clear, he needed to know what to do next.  In marriage we often ask everyone else (other people who have their own problems), before we ask the One who has all of the solutions.  Jesus knows what we need to do, when we need to do it and just how it needs to be done.  Inquire of the Lord and ask about your next step in marriage.  Ask about what you should learn, how you can be better, how can you love better, how can you serve better. Whatever you need to know, ask Jesus first.  After all “we have not because we ask not.”
  4. Pursued His Enemy:  vs 8 …And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men…  When David got the word from God, he took immediate action.  You see he asked God what to do and God told him to pursue.  Pursue means to go after with vigor, chase or persecute.  God, in essence, told David to fight; fight for his family and the very life which had just been destroyed.  This is the same word for you today.  Don’t let the enemy get away with the destruction he has caused, FIGHT.  Why?  God told David to fight in answer to the question he asked, but the Lord being omnipotent also answered a question that David did not ask: why he should fight?  “My life will be better without them.” “They are not willing to work so why should I?”  “Is it even worth it?”  These are all questions that will often come right after Jesus prompts us to fight for our marriages.  Since He knew this, He gave the answer in advance.  The Lord said “for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”  Without fail, because Jesus is with you everything will be recovered:  the love of your life, your best friend, the intimacy both physically and emotionally;  it will all be recovered.  You will get everything back, just trust the Lord to do the heavy lifting on your behalf.  You believe, Jesus will achieve and in the end you and your spouse will be relieved (I could not resist).
  5. Triumphed Beyond Victory: vs 20 Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”  After David recovered everything that had been stolen by the enemy, he realized that God had given him more.  When we triumph with God, it is always exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine.  David not only recovered all that he lost, but he received extra (some would say he got his with interest).  The text states Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”  Jesus always leaves us better off, than we originally were, in David’s case, he received the spoil.  In your case, you marriage will be more exciting, intimate and stronger than it ever was.  You and your children will become closer and more transparent as well.  You can trust God like David did, he triumphed beyond victory, regaining everything that he lost and more.  Trust Him….and recover your better life.

Conclusion: This February make up in your mind that you will believe the Lord and FIGHT, as you do you will recover all.  You will be better, your marriage, your children, even those around you will benefit.  Remember this; it is not your actions that are changing your situation, but the actions of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross years ago.  Victory was given to us all when He defeated death and Satan by standing in our place.  You can rest assured that what He did was more than enough for us to have victory, as we FIGHT for our marriages and families.  FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE TODAY!!

2012 is a New Year

Spiritual Food

2 Cor 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…

In case you were not aware 2011 is over.  It has passed away and there is no going back.  Yes, there were some horrible things that happened last year, but there were also some great things.  One of those great things was that you made it.  Many people did not, some gave up, some simply gave out and numerous were just not able to hold on.  But you made it and it was only because of God’s precious Grace, given to us in His beautiful Son Jesus.  If you are or would dare to be IN Christ I have a few things to share with you about 2012.
First, IN is the Greek word En, which means to be inside or with, it is a primary preposition denoting (a fixed) position. When we are inside and with Jesus Christ, then we are where He is and are given the authority that He has.  In 2012 you are seated at God’s right hand, in heavenly places (Eph 1:20 & Heb 8:1) and you have been given all authority in the earth (Matt 28:18; 1 Cor 15:24: Titus 2:15).  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ:

  1. We Become New: “he is a new creation.”  As we move into 2012, it is important to remember that when we are IN Christ you are a new creation. Kainos is the Greek word for new used in this text meaning recently made, fresh or unused.  Although each of us has a past, we have been made brand new; no damage, no cracks.  While our flesh may look the same (a few cracks here and there), we (our inner man) are made new, because we are IN (inside, with) Christ.  Now because we know we are new, our 2012 will be exciting.
  2. The Past is Finished: “old things have passed away.”  Many people will continue to bring up our past, the person we once were and even what we did in 2011.  Just remember, everything that happened has passed away, it is over, has perished and was dealt with by God.  You see everything that is in our past, Jesus bore on His own body when He died on the cross (1 Pet 2:24).  Because of Jesus and His finished work on the Cross, all of our past has passed away, and there is no condemnation for any of it (Rom 8:1).  Going into 2012, remember, the past is finished.
  3. The Future is Bright: “all things have become new.”  With all of the old passing away, what will happen in our future?  The Greek word for become means to come into existence, to begin to be, to receive; 2012 will be brand new.  Our Future is new because the Lord has carefully planned it out for us (Jer 29:11) and aspart of that plan God reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ (vs 18) and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation.  Our future is bright because God desires that others see our relationship with Him and He uses us to introduce others to Him.  Get ready to “bling” in 2012, because God plans to put you in the spotlight!!

Conclusions:  The past has faded away and will no longer cause us any harm, there is nothing we can do about it, except allow the Lord to teach and heal us from it.  Go into 2012 knowing that God is going to make it bright, not just for us but for His Glory.  This means His light in us will shine brighter than ever and it will be seen by God’s unmerited favor on our lives.  We will see open doors, new relationships, divine protection and provision, great wisdom and the revelation of God’s love toward each one of us.  I hope you are ready to shine in 2012, BEHOLD all things have become new.

God Was Thinking of You on Christmas

God Loves You

Matt 1:22-23 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

As Christmas nears, many prepare to celebrate with family and friends, while others attempt to hold it together because of the sadness this time brings.  Regardless of which side of the fence you stand on I want you to know that God is always thinking about you.  This Christmas as we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, I propose to you that God would say that You are the reason for the season.  What?? You arrogant, selfish, blankety-blank!!!  Hold on, give a brother a chance and hear me out…..

God had you on His mind when He created Christmas, you were the reason He sent His Son; let’s look at Matthew’s Gospel:

  1. Christmas Fulfilled the Word: So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord.  The prophet Isaiah declared a Word which was spoken by the Lord over 700 years prior to what we celebrate every year.  It is amazing, the glorious plan that God put in place for each one of us so long ago.  Isaiah’s prophecy was not the only Word from God that has been (will be) fulfilled because Jesus came on that day we would come to know as Christmas.  Lives were saved, bodies were healed, hearts were restored and miracles were witnessed just as it was previously declared, God’s word was fulfilled because Jesus came.  Christ’s birth initiated the fulfillment of a series of Old Testament scriptures, which includes the day He declared you would become His child.  Oh, you have not accepted Him as Savior yet?  Don’t worry; Scripture is still being fulfilled as you read, so it is just a matter of time.
  2. Christmas Fascinated the World: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son.  Have you ever heard of a virgin having a child?  Neither had Joseph and Mary, or anyone else for that matter.  But this would not be His only mind boggling miracle, He would continue to blow the minds of everyone you could imagine. I know that He blows my mind all of the time.  Jesus fascinated the Wise Men and Shepherds the day He was born, then later He has fascinated so many by feeding thousands with a couple of fish; stopped a hurricane with a simple word; told a dead man to get up; took a wretch like me and declared me righteous, his miracles never cease.  Oh, He hasn’t fascinated you yet?  Don’t worry minds are still being blown as you read; yours will too.
  3. Christmas Finished the Work: and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  Because God Himself came to live with us, we no longer have to continue to work for God’s presence.  You see there was a time before Christ that we were required to uphold a set of regulations larger than the entire constitution, just to be considered in good standing with God.  We could not keep all but one and be in good standing.  Nope, if we failed to do one we were condemned.  All of the good we could even think to do would not matter because when Adam sinned we had nothing to offer.  Paul said like this in Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.  Most know these as the commandments, but God would refer to them as the “Ministry of Death.”  Oh, but on Christmas, it is God with us  that allowed a way for all work to be finished; our sins covered forever and the Law to be fulfilled.  We never have to work for God’s acceptance, because He is with us.  Before Jesus came we needed a mediator, but when He came everything has shifted. Oh, you’re still working to get to God?  Don’t worry I have some good news for you, Christ finished that work for you on Calvary.

Conclusion:  As you prepare to celebrate Christmas, never forget God had this day in mind as the beginning of a great plan that we now are able to receive as a gift today.  It is a gift that keeps on giving to us, and they shall call His name Immanuel.  Merry Christmas!!!  Jesus is the reason we celebrate but we are the reason that God did initiate.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Giving Thanks

Ps 106:1 Praise the LORD!  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Many of you are like me, in that over the years you’ve come to thank God throughout the year and not just the last Thursday in November.  Yet I cannot help but have an increased sense of thankfulness during this time of the year.  The text states to Praise the LORD. This Hebrew word for Praise in this text is hallal (to praise, to make a show or rave about, to glory in or boast upon, to be clamorously foolish about your adoration of God).  David is telling us to brag or rave about our adoration for our Lord Jesus.

We live in a time where not everyone is necessarily excited about life and many feel like they don’t have anything to be thankful for.  So let’s look at David’s Psalm again to determine just why he was so exuberant in his praise. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, here’s why we do need to give thanks:

1.  God Is So Good– for He is good!  We have heard this saying many times: “God is good, all the time & all the time God is good.”  Although this statement is often over used out of tradition rather than sincerity, it may be the truest statement ever made.  God is indeed good!  This Hebrew word towb is defined by about 40 different English words that ultimately mean excellent.  The Lord is excellent.  We should give thanks for the fact that our Lord Jesus is excellent, because all our righteousness are like filthy rags (Isa 64:6) and we were in desperate need of an excellent sacrifice.  A sacrifice that would cover all of our sins…forever.  Yet, what we got was exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever need.  Jesus is perfect making Him the only one that could be sacrificed to cover every one of our sins, but even more than that He became our GOOD friend, who walks with us every day and is concerned about our every need. We are able to happily give thanks this week because Jesus is “GOOD.”

2.  God Is Full Of Mercy– For His mercy endures forever. The term mercy used here means goodness, kindness, faithfulness, compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender or an enemy.  So God’s compassion and kindly forbearance toward each of us endures forever. We can be thankful because God’s mercy for us is in it for the long haul; David said that it endures (last long, holds out, without yielding, patiently waits and loves without judgment).  God has been merciful with each one of us.  The fact is we deserve death but we have a loving God who is so (patient, long suffering, kind & gentle) to us that He gave our judgment to His only begotten Son.  We are able to happily give thanks this week because Jesus is full of “MERCY.”

Conclusion:  I can only close with David’s words; Praise the LORD!  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. And while you’re doing that, have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!!!

God Is Not Holding Out On You

Spiritual Food

“Ps 84:11-12  For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You.”

Have you ever thought to yourself, How did I get here?  Why am I not where I thought I would be?  Why do I not have this or that?  I know I have.  Sometimes I have asked God what are you doing, how could you allow that to happen to me?  I thought you loved me, but you certainly are not showing it right now.  I’m only being serious!!  The thing is when we are in our situation we don’t always recognize that God has the best planned for us.  We tend to forget that “Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Do you know why?  The devil constantly wants us to believe that God is holding out on us.  As if for some reason, God is punishing us for something we did years ago or even the other day. He did this to Adam & Eve when they had everything in the Garden of Eden, and he tries the same thing with us time after time. But remember this:

  1. God Has All We Need & More:  “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory.”  Whether it is life (sun) for a dead situation, protection (shield) from the enemy’s attacks, unmerited favor and supernatural strength (grace) to make it thru tough times or special honour & praise (glory) just because we’re His kids (or all of the above); Jesus has it all.  His blessings go way beyond just these few things, and this Psalm clearly tells us tha the Lord will not withhold any good thing from us.  Jesus has it all!!!
  2. God Can Be Trusted:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in You.”  The problem often is that our definition of good and the Lord’s definition of good is often not the same.  Good to us often means what we want, when we want it and not necessarily what God wants or His timing.  What we want might make things better, but it will never be “Beyond-Beyond!.”  When we trust God we will allow some good things to pass us by so that we can receive “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph 3:20).”   We can trust God because He is trustworthy.  We are blessed “according to the power that works in us,” and for those of us who are saved, this power is Jesus (the one who has all we need & more).  Trust That!!

Conclusion: God will never hold out or keep good things from us because He loves us too much.  What kind of Father would He be if He did that?   Don’t let the Devil fool you anymore, it may not be exactly what you want but trust the Lord and you will see the exceeding an abundant blessings from God.  Enjoy them, they’re for you!!!

God’s Love vs. Our Fear

God Loves You

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.19 We love Him because He first loved us

What is the opposite of FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real)?  If you said faith, you are absolutely wrong.  What??  How in the world can I say that?  Well I’m not saying it, the “Word” is very clear, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”  We can trust Paul when he reminds us in 2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  The real opponent to Fear is Love, and the more we know about God’s Love for us, we will be able to truly overcome the “Big Bully” of every believer (FEAR).

Since I’m pretty sure that we all can read, there should not be a great deal of arguing with vs 18 and the fact that God’s love cast out fear.  The “perfect love” refers to the agape love of God that is unlike any love that we are capable of.  This kind of love, we find very difficult to even comprehend, and therefore realize that only God’s love can indeed be “perfect love.”  It should also be easy to agree that “casts out” means to throw out, toss aside, get rid of or kick out.  This is what God’s perfect love does to our fear:

God’s Love Gives Confidence: Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. While we know that Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross was the greatest act of love mankind has ever witnessed.  It is His finished work on that rugged cross that provides “boldness” to all that have accepted Jesus as Savior.  You see we now know that in that day of judgment we do not have to be afraid of the eternal punishment that those who have not received the free gift from God, will receive.  When you know that you have won the game before it started, it gives you confidence going in. It’s like when Q (my best friend) and I play spades against anyone, we already know the outcome before a card is played, we have confidence!  Just as we
can go boldly to the throne of Grace (Heb 4:16) because of Jesus our High Priest, His sacrifice on the cross allows us to “have boldness in the day of judgment.”

God’s Love Perfects Us: because as He is, so are we in this world. Jesus is perfect and when He walked
the earth as man He did so perfect.  In fact it was not until he was on the cross that anything negative was ever
associated with Him.  You see it was then that He became as we were, so that we might be “as He is.”  In this world we have been afforded everything Jesus has access to. It is our inheritance, so whatever our Daddy owns we own.  It is God’s love that has made us the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:21), by allowing our sins to be exchanged for Jesus’ righteousness.  Jesus has made us like Him, His blood has covered all of our imperfections.  When we know & believe this, fear can have no chance power over us .

God’s Love Endures: We love Him because He first loved us.  No matter how far we run, or how much we try to hide, we cannot escape the Love God has for each one of us.  No amount of foolishness or bad decision, no amount of rebellion or unbelief can keep God from loving us. His love continues to chase us down and overtake us, after all God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).  I know that your life might not seem like it right now, your circumstance might make you feel the very opposite but, I guarantee that God’s love will never cease.  He has sought us out in our lowest moments, protected us from our greatest enemy (ourselves) and forgiven us of everything, even when we paid Him
no mind.  God has provided us every opportunity to receive His unbelievable love, but the problem is we do not
believe it.  Check this out, the Greek word, euaggelion, which was translated “gospel” in seventy-four New Testament verses, actually means “nearly-too-good-to-be-true news.  The reason we have such a hard time believing just how much we are loved by God and that Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins is because it is literally “too good to be true,” but it is VERY TRUE.  The Lord’s agape (unconditional love) for us is amazing and with a love like that we cannot help but love Him back.

Conclusion: God’s agape love cast out all fear and when we believe His love for us, our fears can be removed.  They are removed because we can be confident in the day of judgment, made perfect under the cover
of Jesus’ blood and unable to escape His love no matter how hard we try.  This love does not puff us up, as a
matter  of fact it is very humbling, and should help us to stop allowing FEAR to render us powerless.  Know that God first loved us because He wants us to be fearless.

Your Brother,
Mark

Look Up… And See Your Help

Spiritual Food

Ps 121:1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills, From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 

Psalm 121 is a “Song of Ascents;” what does that mean?  These are 15 psalms historically believed to have been sung when the Israelites would ascend to the Temple in Jerusalem for one of the three major festivals.  It was an exciting time for Israel as they were celebrating some type of victory God gave them over their enemy.  In other words it is a song of joy and triumph.

The psalmist encourages us when we are in need of help, by saying “I will lift up my eyes to the hills.”  It is interesting that he says to focus our eyes on the hills.  The Hebrew word for hill in this text actually refers to mountains and since we are to look to the mountains for our help, I wanted to take a look at a few mountains in the bible that reveals our help.

By looking to the hills we find our help in the following ways:

  1. The Lord’s Provision: On a high mountain in the land of Moriah, Abraham brought his son Isaac to sacrifice him in obedience to God.  Imagine the agony he must have experienced, taking the one he had waited so long for and loved so very much to the place where he would die. Abraham was following God, but did not realize that God had already provided for his need.  Abraham was giving up his only son to show his love for another (does that sound familiar).  When we look to this hill,
    remember that God provided a ram to take the place of Abraham’s son, but He gave Jesus to take the place of Each One of Us. “…how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him (Matt 7:11)?”  When you’re in need of any provision, look to this hill from “from whence comes my help.”
  2. The Lord’s Presence:  Mount Sinai was the place where Moses would enter the presence God and spend time with Him on a regular basis.  Moses received the wisdom, direction and protection required to get the children of Israel to the Promised Land.  During this “Quality Time” Moses learned much about himself as well as God’s plans for his life.  This hill is also where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, or what we often call the “Law.”  He gave this “Law” to show us
    God’s standards and more so to show us how much we need Jesus as our Savior.  At this mountain, God demonstrates both the importance of His presence and our need for His Son Jesus
    in our hearts.  When you’re looking for direction or just need a word from God, look to this hill from “from whence comes my help.”
  3. The Lord’s Transformation:  Jesus took his three closest disciples to the mount of transfiguration and on this hill He was transformed before them until “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.”  The three disciples saw Jesus like never before; it was different from anything they had experienced with Jesus in the three years they knew him.  After that night on the mountain, everything changed for those disciples.  The Lord is so amazing that we will never completely understand Him, yet we continue to gain a deeper understanding of His love for us.  So when you need to see the Lord in a different way, look to this hill from “from whence comes my help.”
  4. The Lord’s Triumph: Lastly, there was a hill called Golgotha, and on that hill the Lord demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).  It was here that Jesus went to the cross and died for every one of our sins, past, present and future.  Jesus became our Passover lamb, whose blood covers the door post of our souls covering our sin while imputing on us His righteousness.  It is on this hill that we were given a savior who would change both our everyday lives and eternity forever.  Whenever the devil is attempting to condemn you when you fail and keep you from resting in the Lord’s finished work on the cross, look to this hill from “from whence comes my help.”

Conclusion:  Our help comes from Jesus and although there are several other hills we could look to (Mount
Carmel, Elijah’s victory; the mount of olives; Jesus in Gethsemane; just to name a couple), these four hills clearly show that Jesus is the source of our help.  When we look to these hills, regardless of our situation we can find the Lord Jesus “from whence comes my help.”