Faithbase

Good morning. We are continuing in our prayer time, praying the Bible, Psalm 5 verses 4 through 6 this morning. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak false of the Lord, abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. Lord God, may we be of like mind. I think, Lord, all too often we try to be better than you in the sense that we are not wanting to judge. We realize, Lord, that we're not supposed to condemn. That's not our place at all, but when the Lord Jesus told us not to judge, he also went on to tell us how to make judgments concerning the integrity of the messenger, Lord God, that we know a tree by its fruit, heavenly Father. And you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. You do not wink at those things that are done by mankind that are wrong. Indeed, Lord God, you bring judgment upon those who reject you. We know in eternity there is the consequence of eternal separation from you, Lord God, and hell for those who refuse to bow the knee to our Lord Jesus Christ. You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. Lord, may we be cleansed. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, but may we cultivate that new creation, that cleansing. May we express that cleansing with a life that is pleasing to you, Lord. It's not something that we do in our own strength. It is God who gives us both the desire and the ability to do your goodwill, Lord God. We pray that we would recognize that all good things that we do come from you, that we are not boastful, and so we are humbly accepting your power in our lives, Lord God, because the boastful do not stand in your sight. Lord, we don't want to be boastful about anything. We are not somehow a great asset to you, none of us, Lord God, but it is only in Jesus Christ that we are amazingly valuable to you, because Jesus died that we might have life. So Lord, may we not boast in that, except as Paul boasted in his weakness, that it is God's strength that is shown in our weakness, and so we boast in that weakness and that alone. We boast in Jesus Christ and he alone, Lord God. Lord, the Scripture tells us that you hate workers of iniquity, and again, back to what I said, Lord, at the beginning of this prayer, that sometimes we consider ourselves, may not consciously do so, but ourselves better than you, in that we are not willing to to address sin bluntly and tell people that God hates sin and that he hates the old man and wants that that that old man swept away so that the new life, the new creation, might be evident, Lord God, and so that's our prayer, Lord, that you would that you would reform and change those who work iniquity, that you would destroy those who speak falsehood, and out of the rubble of that life bring new life, Lord God, as people turn to you and express a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, Lord, because you abhor the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. There are many today, especially if we see them in positions of leadership who are both bloodthirsty, pushing for war, and they are deceitful. They speak lies to us. Lord God, you despise that, you hate that, and we have the responsibility to have the same reaction to bloodthirst and deceit that you have, Lord, so may we understand what it means, Lord God, to be godly, to be Christ-like in the way that we view and and the way that we make judgment concerning the character of people around us, especially, Lord, I'm focused this morning in our prayer upon those who are in positions of leadership, who have at their command vast resources financially and can push an agenda, Lord God, of warfare, can use deceit to manipulate the people, Lord, bring them down, I pray, cause them to be swept away and to be instead turned to you, Lord Jesus, that they might bow the knee to our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that this morning, Lord, that your power would be made manifest in this fashion, and we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.