Friday, July 8, 2016

When God fights for you....

I was praying for my country this morning and something I read last night popped into my head again...this time it really disturbed me because this train of thought came from hell itself! Someone wrote "...And don't tell me to pray, Black people have been praying since slavery!" I take serious issue with that statement! It's not the only time I've read something like that, but I can tell you it's a lie from the devil to destroy hope in people and make them think they have to solve this without God. I'm telling you, WITHOUT GOD, IT CANNOT BE DONE.
When David was being pursued by his enemy Saul, he didn't make a sign and go march in front of the palace, gather his mighty men and go after Saul to get vengeance and take his kingdom....He tells the story right here in Psalm 18 of how he prayed and God rescued him...and more importantly...David teaches us the reason God rose up and delivered him. God delivered David because of his heart...Read this chapter...Watch God go after David's enemies....but more importantly read WHY God went into action....
Violence will not help or solve anything....Downplaying praying is a trick from the devil....He was there when God delivered David! He has seen God in action...this is why he is lying to people....We better pray with clean hearts and hands!
Blessings!
Psalm 18
For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield[b] and the horn[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop[e];
with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad path for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you humbled my adversaries before me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the Lord, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
I trampled them[f] like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
44 foreigners cower before me;
as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
45 They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.
50 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants forever.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

....Washed in the blood of your sacrifice....I am clean!

Tonight while returning home, I missed my street and I drove passed Soul Saving Center.  There sitting on the wall in front of the church in the pitch darkness of night was a guy I've prayed for and he's come to church a few times.  I stopped and backed up and asked him if he was alright.
I couldn't understand what he was saying so I got out of the car and sat down next to him.  He was crying.  He said, "I need God."  "My Life...."  And he went on and on....

All I could think about was how Jesus saves us and we are clean.  I thought of how the people He encountered while He walked this earth were never the same once they believed on Him!  I didn't want this man to be the same!   I ministered to him and told him that Jesus was calling him, drawing him....He wants to make him clean!

I praise God for the time we spent there tonight.  I prayed for him as he cried some more....I know God is drawing him and he's not the only one of the men who walks the streets of Salem with their bottles in their hands....others have shared with me that they need God to change them and I minister and pray with them right there on the street!   They are in such a place of need for God that they don't care that we are in public, on the sidewalk, out in broad daylight!  They need Jesus!

One of the guys who got saved last month told me, "It's like stepping out of old skin and being put in a brand new body!"

2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: old
 things are passed away and behold, all things are become new!

Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed!  John 8:36

I  also got to minister to another young man who received the Word as truth even though he is surrounded by others who do not believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God....He needed to hear the gospel tonight and he listened!

God is at Work in Salem, NJ!

Praise God!  Jesus is Saving People!  He's Coming again soon!  #TheBloodStillWorks




....Washed in the blood of your sacrifice....I am clean!

Tonight while returning home, I missed my street and I drove passed Soul Saving Center.  There sitting on the wall in front of the church in the pitch darkness of night was a guy I've prayed for and he's come to church a few times.  I stopped and backed up and asked him if he was alright.
I couldn't understand what he was saying so I got out of the car and sat down next to him.  He was crying.  He said, "I need God."  "My Life...."  And he went on and on....

All I could think about was how Jesus saves us and we are clean.  I thought of how the people He encountered while He walked this earth were never the same once they believed on Him!  I didn't want this man to be the same!   I ministered to him and told him that Jesus was calling him, drawing him....He wants to make him clean!

I praise God for the time we spent there tonight.  I prayed for him as he cried some more....I know God is drawing him and he's not the only one of the men who walks the streets of Salem with their bottles in their hands....others have shared with me that they need God to change them and I minister and pray with them right there on the street!   They are in such a place of need for God that they don't care that we are in public, on the sidewalk, out in broad daylight!  They need Jesus!

One of the guys who got saved last month told me, "It's like stepping out of old skin and being put in a brand new body!"

2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: old
 things are passed away and behold, all things are become new!

Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed!  John 8:36

I  also got to minister to another young man who received the Word as truth even though he is surrounded by others who do not believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God....He needed to hear the gospel tonight and he listened!

God is at Work in Salem, NJ!

Praise God!  Jesus is Saving People!  He's Coming again soon!  #TheBloodStillWorks




The Irv Grip!