Psalm 45:2-7

SCRIPTURE

“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace. Since God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

Psalm 45: 2-7

THOUGHTS

I read this passage with Jesus in my sights because of the first line “your lips have been anointed with grace,” and I thirst with delight at the pronouncement of his “oil of joy” because I want that from him, for myself, so that my inner being can be filled with the joy of being alive. I have a little, enough to taste it, but I need more. Grace gives this kind of life to the one who receives those words. To any who asked for help, Jesus helped and healed and delivered. His miracles eroded the idea of ‘too late’ for God to help people when he fed the multitudes of gathered people from a few loaves of bread and a couple fish, having twelve baskets remaining. And when he raised the dead (a servant, a son, a daughter, and his friend Lazarus, to name a few) he lights up a threshold of a door open in heaven that was always open, but few passed through (I can think of one – the man thrown on the bones of Elisha¹, resurrected. Oh, and the boy Elijah resurrected during the drought²) and Jesus established himself as the way to come and go through that door.

Grace.

How great and wonderful is grace?

To me, mercy sounds like: Okay in my compassion, I will bestow a lesser punishment than you deserve but you’ll be working off some of this debt as punishment for your wrongs.

But grace is: Okay, in my compassion, I forgive everything you owe. Go free. But, because I love you take with you also peace for your soul, oil of joy, and the fire of the Holy Spirit to guide you in all your actions and words and be renewed in thoughts so that you will know the one who sent me. Your steps will be holy and gracious because I will walk as you walk and my grace will encompass you, in so doing I will increase the joy of the whole world. And, if I may, I will establish you a throne in heaven that will not be moved. Also, real quick, I’m going to go build you a house, because I’d rather you have a place to stay when you get to my kingdom, then you can have me over to dinner and I will make my home with you; and your house will be as great as my house because your house will be in mine and I’m a big sharer, that’s kind of what I’m like: my generous is generous, that’s just me. Um yeah, my definition of a life bestowed in recovered salvation is at the magnitude of giving that honors the most good, I mean, at the standard of the Good-All powerful God, who creates and loves all his works. And so, my gifts have to match his excellence. And his accounts are endless because he doesn’t have to stop creating or giving or providing, and he’s good, so there’s that standard, and I have to honor him and so representing his standard my gift has to be all that he can give, and he gives 100% of what he can. And to honor him I would give 110% stretching my own joy for giving and so you’ll need a really big house because I have a lot of gifts planned. But also, I give the same to everybody, that’s just my kingdom and you’re welcome to walk about in it, and no one’s going to harm or rob you or threaten you in anyway; so yeah, mi casa su casa.³

Something I love about watching deliverance ministry, rebuking demons and curses and witchcraft, thereby renouncing wickedness, and returning to God in repentance is it doesn’t require anyone to feel guilty, first. It works because of the encounter with the love of Jesus. It’s all effectual in all areas of the person’s life because of the love of Jesus. The goodness from deliverance continuous to deliver until the entire life is at easy and healthy and growing in joy because of the truth of the love of Jesus. It works on his name. It works on his works; his righteousness moves the mountain. His righteousness breaks the yokes.

Jesus never, ever, ever, not once told a person to change their behavior, sending them away to be healed and ‘operate in forgiveness’ in order to be healed by him or delivered from demons by him.

For those who have read the gospels, it is true Jesus told the rich man to sell his goods and give to the poor, first, and then he could follow Jesus⁴. I just want to bring it to attention that the rich man didn’t ask for help. the rich man asked Jesus for advice as to how he could better himself, thereby securing his reward. I would like to argue that there is a logical fallacy in asking the Savior how not to be Saved. Because he essential said, ‘How can I not be saved by you, but be enough like you that I inherit my own reward?” He got the answer to his question and nothing more because what he didn’t understand is that the “more” he was hoping for is salvation. Had he asked for that, like the thief on the cross⁵, we would have gone away rejoicing. It’s better to approach the savior in need and humble and him ask you, “What do you want me to do for you?”⁶

As healers and deliverers, we don’t have to ask others to become deserving, by righteous-ing themselves.

There is so much joy in this truth.

All the weight of sin and death is off of our shoulders because he did it! He did it! I think, we’re still learning the fullness of ‘it’ that he accomplished, and the extent of this radical, life altering, rest-to-wholeness, joy foundation in the love of God, being seen by God, daily and known by God enterally and made joyful by his help. I don’t think we’ve grasped the height of what it means that we are loved by God Almighty as Father, as Our Help, and that his Son is Our Righteousness⁷.

But he’s not embarrassed by what we don’t know.

He gets his face near to us and whispers, so we don’t faint by the glory of his presence, with excitement overflowing from his heart into ours: there’s so much more I get to show you, now!

REFERECES

I realize there are miracles mentioned in my first paragraph, but there are too many, just read the Gospel of Mark.

1. 2 Kings 13:21
2. 1 Kings 17:22
3. The Bible, all of it… try starting with Isaiah chapters 49 – 66, then jump back to Isaiah 8:16 cont’ through 9:7. And then read Psalm 122 and Psalm 146. And then search the Bible for the questions, “Who belongs to God?” and “What happens to people who return to him?” Oh, don’t miss Jeremiah 31:33-34
4. Luke 18: 18-29
5. Luke 23:42-43
6. Luke 18:41-43
7. Jeremiah 33:15-16