Psa 89:6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

Because of  Who He Is, and because of this command, we would do well to remember to be on our best behavior in HIS House...and come with hearts that have been prepared to enter the presence of the King, washed by the water of His Word, and prayer, and filled with HIS Spirit. You know, He is the Bridegroom, and we are His Bride. Shouldn't it be a pleasure to prepare to enter His presence? To want to be clean, spotless before Him and pleasing in His sight? If God's children entered His House in this condition what would happen to the sinners who chanced to venture in? The carnal Christians who were still fence sitting, and had one foot in the church, and one in the world? What would happen to those who enter the Sanctuary hurting, and in need of a word from the Lord? If the vessels of the Lord are clean as we are told to be, prepared, and meet for the Master's use, things are going to happen. People are going to be helped, saved, ministered too. Bondages will be broken. The anointing, the presence of the Holy Ghost will be strong when He is in control and the people are gratefully submitted to His will. Oh, I'm not there yet, but by the grace of God, I'm entering in. I'm seeing God in His Word like I've never seen Him before. It makes me hungry for more. I've seen how graciously He has dealt with my failures and weaknesses, and the compassion and help He has offered rather than condemnation. It makes me love Him even more and hungry to be what He's said He wants me to be.

Psa 89:8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

Psa 89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

When problems arise and we are facing difficult situations, when we face opposition of the enemy, when our flesh and carnal minds rise up and exalt themselves against the knowledge and will of God for our lives as laid out in the Word of God, HE is able to subdue all things (Phi_3:21) to Himself. He can speak peace to the troubled soul, He can calm the storm, or He can choose to calm the soul of the one in the storm.

Psa 89:10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

Hallelujah! I was so happy when I read this verse, and I'll have to explain why I say that. A couple weeks ago I heard Neil Rhodes preach "Dangerous Prayers" which was recorded at Times Square Church on Nov. 19, 2006. He was preaching this Scripture :

Num 10:35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.

He got all excited, studying these Scriptures, and the Lord dealt with him like this: What if the enemies of the Lord are areas in your own heart that need to be dealt with? I listened carefully to that message, because I had been praying the Lord would help me with some areas in my own heart that He had showed me needed dealing with. And Pastor Rhodes declared this was a dangerous prayer to pray, because it meant you were serious with God, and He would take you up on it, and flesh and carnal minds don't like the work of God to go forward because it means they will be mortified. Well, when the message ended, I prayed that prayer to the Lord and asked Him for the grace to endure what would come, and just go after what needed to be gone in me, and around me. So this morning, after my prayer time, when I opened my E-Sword, it opened to this Scripture, in Psalms 89, and it's ministering some wonderful truths to my soul! I prayed that dangerous prayer. If God has to declare war and attack those things in my heart and mind and life that are unlike Him and hinder His perfect will, as I have asked Him to, then He will be the strength that holds me up and helps me through this. Hallelujah! What a merciful God to go to so much trouble just to help this little woman in East Tennessee be ready to meet Him when He comes! Praise the Lord and His HOLY Name! Folks, that alone is such proof of His mercy-how long He bears with us.

The Scripture says He has broken Rahab in pieces. Rahab was a woman who rescued the two spies in Joshua, when the children of Israel were getting ready to go into the promised land, but Rahab was also a poetical name for Egypt. It meant fierceness, insolence and pride. It's another name for Egypt-and that is what is meant in this verse. He has broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Oh, my. Egypt, in Scripture also signifies sin, oppression, bondage, and the world, too. God told Jeremiah how He'd break things:

Jer 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Then Jesus said this:

Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

He is the Rock of our salvation! When we bow before His presence with hearts that know we have desperate need of HIM, with an awareness of our own frailties and weakness, then we will get somewhere. We need to come with recognition of His holiness, His great power, and faith in His love for us. We come dependent on HIM, knowing we cannot trust in ourselves for we will fail ourselves every time. When we fall before Him with humbled hearts and submit ourselves as a living sacrifice before the throne of grace to find help and mercy in our time of need, and we agree with the Word of God, we fall on it, present ourselves to HIS Word, and let His Word be the absolute FINAL Authority, it will break us up. It will break the hardness, it will break the stony places in our hearts. Oh, hallelujah! When He breaks us, then He can make us what pleases HIM and glorifies HIM!

He has broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain! I am crucified with Christ-oh, only through the power of the Holy Ghost can the members of this body be mortified and only through HIS power can Jesus be Lord of all of us. In ourselves we cannot even though we want to, we cannot accomplish this. The Body of Jesus Christ can never be unified without the Holy Ghost being in control. Oh, He says "thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm." Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! The carnal mind- enemy of God. Turning to people for advice and help, instead of prayer and seeking God. Enemy. Overeating as a form of comfort when depressed, instead of turning to God to find comfort, and fulfillment, enemy. Using the credit card to pay bills and buy groceries when you don't have enough money to do so, enemy. That's depending on plastic instead of God. Seeking refuge in sleep because of weariness and depression. Enemy. Bondage. Oppression. Fear. Doubt. Unbelief. Despair. Confusion. Instability and insecurity. All enemies of God. Anger, wrath and strife. Enemies. Getting hateful under pressure and murmuring and complaining because I've let my joy in the Lord slip through my fingers because I have allowed events and things to hinder me from rushing into His presence and drawing from HIM what I need-enemy of the Lord. (Remember what Isaiah said in chapter 12? He said with joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.) You know, you hear preachers say a lot "the joy of the Lord is our strength. Don't let the devil steal your joy." Let me tell you how you lose it. Neglect prayer. Neglect reading the Word of God AND praying for understanding.

Psalms 16:11 is my very favorite Scripture in the Bible. It says "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." It's in His presence, when we get alone with HIM that we find comfort, fulfillment, joy, peace, strength, everything we need. When we neglect Him, we get weak and we suffer. Our flesh will vex us. People around us will vex us. Pressure will mount and get to us, because we ourselves let down the wall when we don't regularly go to HIM and meet with HIM and draw from HIM what we must have to stand and flourish and live Godly in such an ungodly society. When we go to HIM we are reminded of His vastness and problems and fears and concerns melt away. And we must be careful when we have been meeting with Him regularly and feel strong, not to get confident and start neglecting Him, because we will go downhill quick when we do.

Isa 19:1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

When we look in our hearts and see that we have things in there we bow before or submit to rather than HIM, we can humble ourselves on our knees or on our faces or in our hearts, as we get alone with Him, admit the problem and seek HIS help in removing it. Do we have a tendency to watch too much TV even though we are convicted by the Holy Spirit that we are bowing before an idol when we do? Do we tend to murmur and complain about our lives because we try to manage things and never seem to have enough time to do what we want, instead of committing our way to the Lord? If we go to HIM first thing and commit our day and way to Him, (Psa 37:5) and ask Him to order our steps like He said He would, He will do it, because it's not in us to do so, and Jeremiah plainly tells us that. (Jer 10:23) I know I'm guilty of some of these things and in need of the Lord's help. HE can cut the head and hands off that thing, just like He did Dagon when they put the ark of God in the idol's temple. (1 Sam 5:1-4) When you bring the Word of the Living God into your temple, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost if you have been born again, and you bring that Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword into your heart, into your vessel, and you want the Word, it will accomplish what He sends it to. It will behead the idols that live there so they have no power over you anymore. It will cut off their clutching hands so that they can't grip you any more. He said you will know the truth and the TRUTH shall make you free. Not maybe, not might, but SHALL MAKE YOU FREE!

Praise the Lord! Glory to God! Holy and Reverend is His beautiful name! Oh, folks I pray the Lord help you see this! No wonder we will stand before Him without excuse. He is all the help we need to overcome these things NOW. Oh, thank you Jesus....

Psa 89:11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them.

Psa 89:13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

Psa 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

Everything is His and that includes every country, every people, every problem, (unless we stubbornly try to handle them ourselves) and every thing that affects our lives, it is under HIS authority. He says justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Remember when David said in Psalms 138:2 Thou hast magnified Thy Word above Thy Name? Judgment is His Word. It's what He has decreed will be, whether favorable or unfavorable. It means Divine Law. When we come in humility to Him, His kindness, His beauty, His favor and goodness, His stability and trustworthiness, His faithfulness, meets those who come before His presence for help. It's such a part of Who He is. That is what this Scripture is telling us, children of God! No wonder He goes on to say blessed, or happy, is the people that comprehend and recognize and discover this! That know the sound of the rejoicing, because of that is where they see the victory they have in HIM! That's where all our victory is, in Christ alone! He says those people, they shall go forward, they shall follow the Lord and be lit up because the light of the Lord's face will shine on them! He watches over them carefully.

Psa 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

Psa 89:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

They will rejoice in His name, and in HIS righteousness, because they know they have none of their own. They know HE alone is their hope of salvation and HE is faithful to do what He promised and said He would do. That is their confidence and strength. That's why they want to walk holy and live holy before Him. They recognize His value and love Him because they have had a revelation of His beauty, His love for them, and they have His Spirit dwelling within them and they hunger and thirst after righteousness!

Psa 89:17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.

Psa 89:18 For the LORD is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

The word for glory here means ornament, beauty, honor and majesty. He is the Source of our boldness, our power, and strength. But if we don't enter His presence in prayer and if we don't read His Word we will not know these awesome truths and we will be weighed down with the cares of this life, the pressures of living in an ungodly, wicked and dark world, and everything around us will get to us until we are overcome.

Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Remember that warning Jesus gave us? He's coming, and the pressure and flood out of the devil's mouth is going to get harder and swifter because he knows his time is running out and what did the Lord say? When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift a standard-that is His Word in us holding us up, folks. I've seen it work in my own life. When temptation was all around me, threatening to overwhelm me, and He could just speak that right Scripture to my heart, and strengthen me, and remind me of Who lives in me. (Isa 59:19)

He is our refuge, He is our help, He is our strong tower, HE is our defense. But we must go into His presence, daily, every time we get a chance, to fortify ourselves. Take our Bibles, go to Him, and love Him, bow before all the wisdom and majesty of the universe, see Him through eyes of faith and say "teach me, Lord, to wait on you..." Open this unspeakably PRECIOUS Word of God which is our strength, our hope, our life, our defense, our protection, our weapon, our daily bread, and so many other things, and present yourself to His Word, and ask Him to teach you. Oh, I know in my heart when I do that it pleases Him. When I come with the determination to linger, and with a hungry heart, out of sincerity and knowing my need of HIM, I know that makes Him happy. Being near HIM, being in HIS presence, feeling the warmth of His love, causes joy to flood my soul. Reading His Word, and watching Him bring it to life before my hungry eyes thrills me. That's why I have to share. It's so good, I can't bear the thought of keeping it to myself. Praise the Lord! Oh, He is good, people. There is nothing out there that compares with HIM! He is coming. But first, the pressure and troubles of this world that would fall in the last days are going to increase and if we do not get to know HIM for ourselves and fortify ourselves now and anchor our souls in the rock of His Word, we will be swept away. (Rev 12:15) I hope you will make it your prayer for the Holy Ghost to prepare you to meet the Bridegroom, unashamed, when He comes. I heard Leonard Ravenhill say one time that one minute in His actual presence, when we behold Him and we will all wish we had believed Him more, and done more for Him. How true. One look into His deep eyes of love and we will all wish that. He is worthy of all of us. He deserves more than half-hearted and wishy washy, unwilling to suffer the least little bit, lip service. We need the Lord to help us grow up in Him and be strong in HIM and be courageous in HIM, and not be dismayed because HE is with His people and He leads the way and He will not fail or forsake them. Not ever.