The Phil Files

I can’t imagine living in a city under siege in the ancient world. The terror of being surrounded by your enemies and cut off from the outside world would be awful. Knowing that they were going to wait and starve you until you were too weak to fight would rattle even the strongest warrior. But many of us, at one time or another, has clearly felt under siege by the evil one. Everywhere we turn there is a new problem. Each time we look up there seems to be another physical affliction. We got to bed wondering who would be the latest loved wounded, injured, attacked or stricken. We’re not talking about depression or pessimism, we’re talking about spiritual attack. There is only one place to go. There is only one source of hope. As I visited recently with a friend under such attack, her faith in God — the rock, the fortress the God of the Mountains — was stronger than her enemies. This Psalm is for her!

In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    deliver me in your righteousness.
  Turn your ear to me,
    come quickly to my rescue;
  be my rock of refuge,
    a strong fortress to save me.
  Since you are my rock and my fortress,
    for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
  Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
    for you are my refuge.
  Into your hands I commit my spirit;
    redeem me, LORD, my faithful God.

  I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
    as for me, I trust in the LORD.
  I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
    for you saw my affliction
    and knew the anguish of my soul.
  You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
    but have set my feet in a spacious place.

  Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
    my soul and body with grief.
  My life is consumed by anguish
    and my years by groaning;
  my strength fails because of my affliction, 1
    and my bones grow weak.
  Because of all my enemies,
    I am the utter contempt of my neighbors;
  I am a dread to my friends —
    those who see me on the street flee from me.
  I am forgotten as though I were dead;
    I have become like broken pottery.
  For I hear many whispering,
    “Terror on every side!”
  They conspire against me
    and plot to take my life.

  But I trust in you, LORD;
  I say, “You are my God.”
  My times are in your hands;
    deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
    from those who pursue me.
  Let your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your unfailing love.
  Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
    for I have cried out to you;
  but let the wicked be put to shame
    and be silent in the realm of the dead.
  Let their lying lips be silenced,
    for with pride and contempt
    they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

  How great is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you,
  which you bestow in the sight of all
    on those who take refuge in you.
  In the shelter of your presence you hide them
    from all human intrigues;
  you keep them safe in your dwelling
    from accusing tongues.

  Praise be to the LORD,
    for he showed me the wonders of his love
    when I was in a city under siege.
  In my alarm I said,
    “I am cut off from your sight!”
  Yet you heard my cry for mercy
    when I called to you for help.

  Love the LORD, all his faithful people!
    The LORD preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
  Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the LORD.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 31: My times are in your hands! — \o/

When we are in distress, when we feel that all of life is under siege, then we can begin to truly confess that our lives are in God’s hands. Without Him, apart from Him, is no lasting good thing. However, because the LORD is with us, we can be strong and take heart even during life’s most challenging times.

Monday, we will discuss my weekly article in Heartlight called “Church?” and talk about the whole issue of “church.” Essential to that discussion are the “one another” passages of the New Testament. I wanted to put those here on the blog so we all could have access to them, but also so that we could begin thinking through what implications these message have on the way we live our lives in community — whether we call that community “church” or not. (These come from searching “one another” and “each other” in the NASB and the NIV — the links are to the searchgodsword.org interlinear of NASB and Greek.

Mark 9:50 “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

John 13:14 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15:17 “This is my command: Love each other.”

Acts 20:5-6 When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual affection. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.

Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another…

Romans 15:5-6 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss…

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1 Corinthians 11:33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.

1 Corinthians 12:24-25 But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Galatians 5:13 But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Galatians 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs…

Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another…

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now about your mutual love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 … Live in peace with each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you,e brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.

James 4:11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another…

James 5:9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged …

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…

1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God …

1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2 John 1:5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the begin ning. I ask that we love one another.

So what’s your take on all of this as it compares to the way we practice or do not practice “soul care” and community in the modern church?