Month: November 2025

Psalm 57:1 – Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings
until the danger passes by.
² I cry out to God Most High,
to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
³ He will send help from heaven to rescue me,
disgracing those who hound me.
My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

⁴ I am surrounded by fierce lions
who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
and whose tongues cut like swords.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!
May your glory shine over all the earth.

⁶ My enemies have set a trap for me.
I am weary from distress.
They have dug a deep pit in my path,
but they themselves have fallen into it.

⁷ My heart is confident in you, O God;
my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises!
⁸ Wake up, my heart!
Wake up, O lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn with my song.
⁹ I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
I will sing your praises among the nations.
¹⁰ For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth. (NLT)

In most Bibles, the title of each psalms is given.  The title of this psalm is:  For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”  The events of that story are recorded in 1 Samuel 24.  Those with David wanted David to kill Saul, but David refused.  David trusted in God’s guidance, not the guidance of men set upon vengeance.  David had a small army ready to fight and die with him, but he looked to God for his protection (verse 1).  

I doubt any of us have ever been hiding in a cave while surrounded by our enemies, but I am sure we have had situations in life where we sure felt like it!  I am sure we have felt as if we were surrounded by fierce lions (verse 4), and we have been weary with distress (verse 6).  At those times, where do we seek help?  Whose guidance and whose counsel do we seek?  This psalm teaches us that we should seek help in God.  In verse three, David wrote: “My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.”

Not only did David seek his help from God, he was confident in God’s counsel: “My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident” (verse 7).  David’s confidence in God is inspiring!  Centuries later, James would write about confidence in our prayers.  Concerning prayer, James wrote: “Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world” (James 1:6-8).

While we may not always be there spiritually, our goal as Christians is to be able to pray to God with the confidence of David.  Today, when we pray, let us pray with confidence. With such confidence, like David we can lift our voices and sing praises to God, even in the midst of troubles.   

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 18:21 – Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”   ²² “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

²³ “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. ²⁴ In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. ²⁵ He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.   ²⁶ “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ ²⁷ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

²⁸ “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.  ²⁹ “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. ³⁰ But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.   ³¹ “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. ³² Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.   ³⁵ “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.” (NLT)

These verses follow the reading from last week.  Remember, Jesus had just given some instructions about what to do if someone had been offended by another.  Peter was probably thinking he sounded a bit generous by suggesting we forgive as many as seven times.  It has been recorded that many Rabbi’s of Jesus’ day suggested that one forgive another up to three times. So, in the context of Peter’s culture, he was being generous!  Indeed, in the world in which we live, forgiving seven times is not generous, but rather a bit absurd!

To illustrate this radical forgiveness to which we are called to offer, Jesus tells a story a king who forgave a man of a tremendous debt.  Because the forgiven man refused to forgive others, the king had the man thrown into prison until his debt was paid.  Jesus is telling us that we are men and women who have been forgiven a tremendous debt, therefore forgiving others should be a way of life for each of us.

Does this mean we let people walk over us and take advantage of us, then just forgive again?  Absolutely not!  There are many verses that would speak to those behaviors, and last weeks passage makes it clear that some offenses must be confronted and action must be taken so that the offense comes to an end.  However, there are many things in our daily lives of which we should offer forgiveness.  When we do not have a forgiving spirit, anger builds.  God’s Word tells us to get rid of anger and, “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”  (Ephesians 4:32). 

Today, let us strive to live with a spirit of forgiveness, remembering that we have been forgiven of a great debt! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 18:15 – “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. ¹⁶ But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.   ¹⁹ “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ²⁰ For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” (NLT)

Have you ever had someone do you wrong?  Of course you have, we all have, and so this passage speaks to everyone.  Jesus tells us to first go to the one who has offended us.  Let us consider what this implies.  It implies that we will not go to our friends and talk about what this person has done. Some Christians even go so far as to share something as a ‘prayer concern’, when in fact it is nothing more that griping and gossiping.

When we consider the Word of God in its entirety, we understand that Jesus is not telling us to go and confront someone with every little thing that they do that bothers us!  The Apostle Paul tells us: Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13).  Yet, we know that there are some offenses that run so deeply that we cannot simply overlook them.  These are the instances when we must go and discuss the matter with the other person. 

Some time ago, I unintentionally hurt someone’s feelings.  What I did truly hurt them deeply.  I am so glad that this person did not feel inclined to simply go and tell others how insensitive I had been. Instead, this person came to me privately.  Because of the Christian – Christ like – manner in which this person confronted me, I clearly recognized the wrong that I committed, and have been able to correct the wrong.  This is why this advice from Jesus is so vital. It not only has the power to reconcile two people, it gives someone the opportunity to change themselves for the better.

If someone hurts you today, prayerfully consider if it is such an offense that needs to be corrected.  If so, pray first, then go and speak to the offender.  You may discover that your speaking to the offender is the very voice of God speaking to them! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 18:1 – About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”  ² Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. ³ Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁴ So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁵ “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. ⁶ But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.  ⁷ “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. ⁸ So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (NLT)

Who is the greatest in the kingdom?  I guess the short answer would be – no one who would ask such a question!  Greatness in the kingdom of heaven is not based upon the qualities that the world would promote, but rather on humility. To illustrate this humility, Jesus spoke of becoming like a little child.  In the days of Jesus, while children may have been the promise of another worker at some point, children were merely tolerated among most people, at best.  A child had no chance of gaining any status, and those who seek the kingdom must not be seeking status.  Even as in our time, in the days of Jesus children were not looked up to, but rather looked after.  If we seek life in the kingdom, we should never seek to elevate ourselves before others, but rather only seek to elevate the status of the one who looks after us – Jesus Christ.

It’s not in our nature to take on these childlike qualities, and that’s the point.  Our nature must be set aside. To seek life in the kingdom, we lay aside our old self.  Indeed, Paul spoke of dying to the world: “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world” (Colossians 2:20).

The second part of this passage turns from humility, to the dangers of those who would turn a humble one astray. We must understand that Jewish Rabbi’s would often use exaggeration to make a point (after all, did anyone really walk around with a log in their eye?).  Jesus says in verse eight: “So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.”  The point is this – flee the temptations of sin!  Do whatever it takes to avoid temptation. 

These two points – humility and avoiding sin at all costs – takes work!  It takes discipline, and that is why followers of Jesus are called disciples.  Today, let us seek to truly be disciplined disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Posted by Ramón Torres