DESTROYED FOUNDATIONS

Today’s Reading: Psalms 11-14

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Priene was an ancient Greek holy city located just to the north of Miletus in western Turkey. The picturesque ruins include several columns of the Temple of Athena, much of the city wall, and a well-preserved theatre and a council chamber. Priene is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is likely that the early Christians of Miletus (Acts 20:16) had contact with the city. Priene had a substantial Christian community during the Byzantine period.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Psalm 11:3-4a

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven…

Our key verse applies to our time! There are those who are taking jack hammers and bulldozers to the foundations of moral standards laid down over the centuries. The word “if” leaves room for the possibility of saving the values on which western civilization is built. What confidence we have in the fact that God is still on His throne! Let us never forget that God works through His people to change the world. Through the proclamation of the Person and work of Jesus Christ, and through our prayers, our witness, our giving, and our leadership, God is in the process of strengthening the foundations, so that He can continue to build His Church through us in a stronger way than ever! The Carpenter of Nazareth, the One with the calloused hands of a creative working Man, is doing as He promised, “I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”!!! (Matthew 16:18b).

There are four Psalms here – A B C – Satan’s strategy to destroy the foundations: (A) Attack! (Psalm 11); (B) Believers back off! (Psalm 12) – Satan will never be able to destroy God’s promise of success, Jesus’ Church! And (C) a Cry from believers will bring the happy ending of the closing verses of Psalms 13 & 14! Let us cry out to God now! “How long! How long! How long! How long!” Four times these words are the cry of the Shepherd King.

Well… what are we waiting for blog partners!!! Let’s just do it!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray the prayer written by David and presented to the chief musician, “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God!!!” You have promised to hear and answer “yes” to the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man or woman (James 5:16b). I come before You, as the hymn says, “Dressed in His (Jesus’) righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne!!!!” Amen!!!! For a New Testament reading today, we may want to (click here) read the entire chapter of James 5.

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

As I type this I’m thinking about Pastors who have greatly blessed the Crossroads ministry. Rev. Albert Vaters is one of them.  Albert’s father, Rev. Eugene Vaters, has a high school named after him in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His Mom and Dad were among the very first supporters of Crossroads Christian Communications in Canada years ago. When his Dad passed on, Albert found cheques made out to Crossroads, dated for the months ahead. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the faithful people who have given and given to make this ministry possible! Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when Albert was Pastor of Stone Church in downtown Toronto, he also served as Chairman of our Board. Then God called him to Pastor a great church in California. When Albert’s Dad was called to higher service above, his Mom moved into a seniors complex at Clark’s Beach, Conception Bay, Newfoundland. For years, every time I was in Newfoundland, I never failed to visit her. What a mighty woman of prayer! She’s in that great prayer meeting before God’s Throne in Heaven now. I would kneel in front of her chair and she would lay hands on me and pray a fervent prayer.

From time to time I still visit God’s saints, kneel in God’s Presence, and I am the most blessed man ever! As the last verse of Psalm 13 says, “He has dealt bountifully with me.”

Yours on behalf of all of us who are expecting God’s bounty,

David

P.S. My son Reynold (whose birthday is today… Happy Birthday, my son!) shot a video of me talking about the genesis of this daily blog. We put it on the 100words.ca website in the “About 100words” section (click here). As you encourage others to follow along with us, please share this link with them!

P.P.S. Below is a photo from 2013 of our chapel at the Crossroads Centre in Burlington, Ontario. The pews in the chapel came to us as a result of the renovation of The Stone Church in Toronto, where Albert Vaters was pastor during his years as our Crossroads Board Chairman.