I WILL LOVE THEE, O LORD, MY STRENGTH (Psalms 18:1)

Before we get started with today’s message, I have a special request for you. We have a very urgent prayer request that needs your attention. A young mother of two in Tennessee has just survived a stillborn birth but now has been diagnosed with colon cancer. This cancer has spread to her liver. Please, church!! I am asking you to pray urgently and with purpose for Sarah Walker. It’s for times like this that we as an online church are in existence. Please join Sarah and her friends and family in Tennessee in praying for a complete and total healing. A miracle would be good, wouldn’t it? Thank you for being faithful to answer our call for prayer. Also, look at the right side of our message for today and pray for each prayer request you see there. Now, let the service begin.

Psalms 18:1-2 states:

“I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

What a great declaration of love and faith in our heavenly Father, the God above all gods. We’re starting out on shouting ground and going even higher today, church. Give God all the praise you can muster up. It feels good, doesn’t it? You want to get up and shout out your praise to God? Go ahead. You feel like dancing in the spirit, start dancing. Welcome everyone to your 24/7, week long, online church service. Please know you are welcome in this place.

David first said the words in this Psalm on the day the Lord delivered him from all his enemies headed up by King Saul. You can read the whole story in II Samuel Chapter 22. It is worth reading, and I urge you to do so. My friends, God loves you so much, he is waiting for you to call out to him. Do you know he was not just David’s strength, fortress and deliverer, but he is just the same for you. Trust in him through his Son, Jesus Christ. Cry out “I love thee, O Lord, you are my strength.”

You know folks, in a couple of days I’ll have another birthday. I’ve been on this earth a long time. One of the greatest pleasures I still have is the ability and desire to wake up each morning and say “Thank you Lord for this day. Thank you for this day of salvation. Thank you, Lord, for your son Jesus Christ who died on that cross so that we may have salvation and eternal life with Jesus.” The great thing is, you too, my friends, may have these same desires and abilities. Turn to Jesus today. Ask him to forgive you of all your sins. Believe in your heart today that God raised Jesus from the dead. Confess Jesus as your Savior and make him your Lord. Repent!! Which just means to turn away from sin, and the ways of the world and to walk hand in hand with the Lord. Then you can honestly say “I love you, O Lord, my strength.” Now you can walk through life on his strength and not your own.

Believers, you know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Now admittedly, some believers have slipped off the path. But, the good news is that you can get back on the right path again today. Come on. God is for you and so are we. God has not left nor forsaken you. Deuteronomy 31:6 gives the instruction:

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

This scripture along with Hebrews 13:5 is speaking to God’s children, to those that trust him even if you have feel you have failed him (at the very least in your own mind). God is saying to stay strong in him through his Son Jesus. Hebrews 13:5 says:

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Do you get this, church? God knows we are not perfect, but he desires us to keep putting him first in our lives. Just be content where you are. God will move you up or out of your situation. He will always be with you. That is his promise to his children.

I know we like to make this thing much harder than what it is. God’s plan for our life is really quite simple. Believe on him through his Son, Jesus, read the instruction book of life (the Bible) and follow the instructions. Listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Follow God’s ways and not the ways of the world. Along the way you’ll hear and see all kinds of things both in church and out of church designed to draw you away from the love of God. But just keep reading and giving your ear to God. You will make it. I promise you.

You see, church, once you truly accept Jesus as Lord of your life, things change, don’t they? Paul states it so well in Galatians 2:20. This applies to all of us.

“I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Do you get that, my friends? Jesus loved us so much he gave himself as the only perfect sacrifice, dying on a cross so that you may be saved. And yes, he did that just for you and me. All the petty differences in denominations, doctrines and made up things of man don’t seem so important now, do they? I guess the point I’m trying to make is: Love God through his son Jesus. We believers are like Paul. We are crucified with Christ. We surely live, but in truth it is Christ who lives in us. We live in our flesh but we walk by the faith of the Son of God. Always remember what Jesus did for us.

So now, knowing this, when I look at my wife and children, the home I live in, the faith I have and yes as I write this message for you, is it any wonder that I can and will say “I love you O Lord, you are my strength. Thank you so much for this life on earth you have given me. And Lord, I am looking forward to eternal life with you.” Why don’t you take a look around you, my friends? You can say the same thing, can’t you? One thing I do know, God loves you!! Love him back. Okay?

God Bless You,
Bro. Bob