One High Place

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Isaiah 26:3

3 God, you give true peace

    to people who depend on you,

    to those who trust in you.

Memory verse: Psalm 42:2(New American Bible )

"My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I enter and see the face of God?"

Today's reading: Psalm 126-128 1 Corinthians 10:19-33

Our Only One High Place

The Israelites were commanded by God:

4 “You must not worship the Lord your God in the same way these people worship their gods. 5 The Lord your God will choose a special place among your tribes. That will be the home for his name. You must go to that place to worship him. (Deuteronomy 12:4,5)

In our age of Christ, the age of grace, we know we are the temple of God(1 Corinthians 3:16) and that our true worship is defined in Romans 12:1&2 where Paul says:

Romans 12:1-2... "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We also hear God speak exactly the same words in two different places. He said in both 2 Samuel 22:34 and Psalm 18:33:

He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,

And sets me upon my high places.

'Hinds' means simply 'deer'. The deer were sure-footed creatures that God made to climb the most rugged terrain and swiftly evade predators. So, this tells us that God has made us with all we need to find His 'high place' in our lives.

We must call sin what it is: wickedness-self embraced wickedness. There is ever and only one high place in our lives-that place in Christ Jesus where the Holy Spirit lives. This place is to be our whole being where we love God with all we are.

How black is the smallest sin that blocks our view off God. We have allowed some idol to sever our focus of the throne of the Lord Himself in our minds.

Disease, addiction, demon, bad habit, fault, vice, weakness, temper, moodiness, pride, self-pity, strife, jealousy, perversion, greed, laziness-whatever it is-it cannot remain in our focus-it cannot take the Lordship of our lives. We must go before God, identify the idol-the counterfeit high place and tear it down in the power of the Blood of Christ and in the Holy Spirit.

For some, this is very painful-no matter how painful, it will never exceed the pain Christ went through to destroy all our spiritual and emotional pain from the guilt of sin.

Do The Work.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Great is Your faithfulness and hallowed Your name. Bring Your heavenly focus in my mind and I need Your sustaining power as I forgive and as I fight the battle to be more than a conqueror.

Mighty conqueror of all,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen