Psalm 8:1 for Ephesians 5:19-21 Temple worship.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Psalm 59. The Mind of the Spirit spoke through verse 2 and captured the attention of the spirit of my mind:

Psalms 59:2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

“The workers of iniquity” and “the bloody men” — violent doers of evil — “lie in wait.” They prey on us not for some real transgression, sin, or fault, but for imagined evils.

David called out to GOD, ‘Open Your eyes to help me, and see!’ (Psalm 59:4). (Awake translates  עוּר — uwr from a root with the identical spelling expressing the idea of being made bare, in this case, the opening of the eyes, or uncovering the eyes from behind the lid.) David cried: “Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts … awake to visit all the heathen” (Psalm 59:5). Here, the word awake translates another Hebrew word,  קוּץ — koots (from a primitive root which in this verse indicates an abrupt disturbance of one’s sleep, as by alarm). The alarm is sounding shrill and sharp from the heart of David: “Visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah” (Psalm 59:5).

The Prophet-King, David, describes these “heathen” as dogs prowling the city for prey, belching words that cut like swords (Psalm 59:7).

David’s faith rallied, it seems inspired by the Word of the LORD given in the second Psalm: But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision” (Psalm 59:8; see Psalm 2:1-4).

Along the still waters, I contemplated the fact that we live in the fulfillment of Psalm 2 (See Acts 4:25-28).*

The Son came into the world and took “the kingdom” from the Heathen and their “god” (2 Corinthians 4:4; see Matthew 12:29, with Colossians 2:15; see Matthew 28:18, Ephesians 1:21, and Revelation 1:5). As soon as John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world by which Satan laid claim to all its kingdoms and glory (Matthew 4:8; see Luke 4:6), the devils, the kings and the rulers of the Jews rebelled, and the kingdom of heaven began to suffer violence from those who would take the kingdom by force (Matthew 11:12).

The rage of Satan works in and through the hearts and lives of those under the influence of his spirit in this world (Ephesians 2:1-2), taking the kingdom by force and with violence (Matthew 11:12).

My heart is heavy, grieving the violence of evil men: I’m thinking about the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. Only a little more than two weeks after (September 28, 2025), Satan’s spirit of raging violence deployed another agent of hell, this one by the name of Thomas Jacob Sanford, to attack a Mormon church congregation in Michigan. He murdered four and was himself shot down by police. We don’t know what this warped soldier of Satan used to justify his outrageous aggression — we will pray it will be soon laid bare before our eyes. But we know it is yet another manifestation of the raging violence of the heathen.

In the valley, today covered by a thick fog of death, I knelt before Christ in the protection of the shadow of His Cross. I remembered the day God looked upon the earth (Genesis 6:12a), declaring “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). Violence prevails all over the earth today. May we, like Noah, find grace in His eyes (Genesis 6:8). Jesus reminded me that He sent His disciples into the world but prayed we would be kept from the evil (John 17:15).**

Paul said even when we would do good, “evil is present” with us (Romans 7:21). Jesus, on the Cross, “Gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). He handed that cross to us (Galatians 2:20) and said, here is the way to get through this evil world: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

We must pray for one another as Paul requested: that God will deliver us from unreasonable and wicked men (2 Thessalonians 3:1-20). And, as Jesus taught us, pray that God will have mercy on us, and “deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4).

At the table, Jesus anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we walked together into His harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v6zmp3y-shepherds-pasture.html

[*Notice the Psalm uses “Why do the heathen rage,” and Acts 4:25 says, “Why did the heathen rage?” The Spirit emphasizes the fact that Psalm 2:1 was fulfilled at the crucifixion of God’s Son.]

[**Kept, not from evil, generically speaking, but from “the evil.” There is evil in the world that is the general consequence of the fall (Romans 8:22), and we are not to resist it. We live with all others in this world, and we are exposed to the evils of a creation damaged by Adam’s sin. But Jesus would have the Father keep us from being consumed, seduced, or overcome by the evil in this world.

The word keep translates the following Greek words:

Keep = 1

G5083 tereo τηρέω  = 1

keep = 61

G1301 diatereo διατηρέω  = 1

G1314 diaphulasso διαφυλάσσω  = 1

G2722 katecho κατέχω  = 3

G4160 poieo ποιέω  = 2

G4238 prasso πράσσω  = 1

G5083 tereo τηρέω  = 31

G5432 phroureo φρουρέω  = 1

G5442 phulasso φυλάσσω  = 13

(No Key number) = 8

The word used in John 17:15 is not Strong G1314 (see above), which means to guard thoroughly, to protect (See Luke 4:10). It’s the more common G5083, which means to watch over, to guard by keeping an eye upon, and is differentiated from the idea of to prevent escaping, or the idea of a fortress. One interesting nuance of this word is to withhold (from evil) for God’s purposes.]