Rescue Me!

On August 19, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 35: 17 – 20, 23 -24         NIV

Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions. I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you. Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; let not those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye, they do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.

23 Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord. Vindicate me in your righteousness O Lord my God.

Yesterday we saw David forlorn and depressed. He moaned under the weight of his grief. In today’s portion of Psalm 35 we see David beginning to transition. He is beginning to look for the answer and he knows that his God is the answer. He recognizes God as his vindicator and his own role as praising and thanking the Lord for his salvation.

As you listen to David’s words you may think that his problems are not that different from our own. Perhaps we would be well advised to view our role in the battle in the same way as does David. David understood the lesson from 2 Chronicles 20: 12 – 25. In this great adventure the people learned how to fight a battle. God told them, “You need not fight in this battle” (v. 17). Instead they gave themselves over to praise and thanksgiving while God routed the enemy for them. They didn’t even go down to where the battle took place. They stood on the high ground and praised their God.

Maybe your tormentor, like King Saul, seems misled and unreasonable. That is what David had to contend with. He said his enemies hated him without cause or reason. It is said of Saul that he was influenced by an evil spirit, or that he suffered from a mental disorder. Those who plague us have their own issues. Often, probably most often, their suffering is the genesis for the agony they cause us. This, I believe, is why Jesus taught us to pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5: 44). They have their own pain and it is that hurt that causes them to persecute us without cause.

So what do we have to say to these things? Look to God to be your vindicator. Stand in trust. Pray to the Lord your God giving Him praise and thanksgiving. Sing to Him with a glad heart for all that He is. Expect Him to rescue your precious life from the roaring lion. Stand and see the glory of the Lord.

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The Architecture of Prayer

On May 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 13: 5

But I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
This is a psalm of David described as a prayer for help in trouble. This part of the psalm certainly does not sound like he is praying for help though. The structure of this prayer is so insightful. David begins with his woes but by verse three is makes his petition to the Lord. Then by verse 5 of this six verse psalm, he has shifted into trust, thanksgiving and praise. David knows that despite the appearance of some problems in his life, his God will rise up and save him. He confesses that his trust is in the Lord and that ends his troubles. He knows what the end of the story is going to be and he sings his praises to the Lord.

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Serenade for the King

On March 10, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 14: 6

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Sometimes we really do not slow down enough to take account of all the Lord has done for us. When the world is swirling around you, it can be very difficult to notice all of the kindness your Father has shown on you. When you really do take account of your life and all that you have, you will see His fingerprints on many things. You will see many blessings and many times He has protected you. You weren’t just lucky, you were blessed. When you really stop and take notice of Him in your life, you will find plenty to sing about. You will find plenty to praise Him over. That praise and thanksgiving brings you closer to the Father and you will find more and more to praise Him over.

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Thanksgiving Joy

On November 26, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Jeremiah 30: 19

From them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who celebrate; and I will multiply them and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant.

We offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving because God so deserves it but did you ever realize that God treats it as seed. And honestly, is it any sacrifice at all to give thanks to our Father? I surely don’t think so.

Some people may think they have nothing to be thankful for this year. Well, I asked our family member who is sick if we had anything to be thankful for this year and she gave me a resounding, “Yes.” “We have friends and family and all the people around us,” she said, adding that some people are alone. Well, on this Thanksgiving Day if you can’t find something to thank God for you just aren’t trying hard enough. Even if nothing drives you other than self-interest look at how God honors and promotes those who can get out of themselves for one moment and honestly thank Him for any one of the blessings in their lives.

I am sitting in a warm house right now. Someone is cooking dinner for us. There is electricity, music playing, an HD television twenty feet away, I am typing on a nice little computer, I have all the drink and food I need. My family is safe, I am loved and Jesus is here. Although, this is a difficult time in my life, I realize that I have very much to be thankful for. In some parts of the world people’s lives are threatened just for reading this. 

Let us give thanks with a joyful heart. No matter the troubles, regardless of pain, there is light and love. Our Father loves us with a love that is beyond words. He wants to honor you and magnify your name in the world. Give Him seed to work with. Your offering of thanks builds mountains.  Let your voice celebrate our God and Father with thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving

On November 27, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 95: 2

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I pray your day will be full of joy. Do you know the easiest way to insure that it will be full of joy? The answer is to inject it with thanksgiving and praise. When we enter God’s presence with thanksgiving, our hearts immediately fill with joy. Sometimes we are so busy that we don’t acknowledge all of the blessing that is ours every day. That is what makes Thanksgiving Day so special. It is a day when we stop and regard our lives and in so doing take notice of all of the faithfulness that God, our Father, fills our days with.

My encouragement to you today, then, is to not only come before God with your offering of thanksgiving but also to be loud about the multitude of blessing that He provides for you daily. Sing psalms and shout because He is worthy of our praise and because when you fill your heart and mouth with praise you minister to your own soul. Make a joyful noise to the Lord for He is good and so worthy to be praised. 

Have a great day!

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The Sacrifice of the Heart

On July 2, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 50: 14

 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”

 Psalm 51: 15 – 17

O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Psalm 50 and 51 might best be understood when read together for they shine light upon each other. In Psalm 50 God is speaking and when you read the psalm in its entirety you see that God says the he owns all of the cattle, knows every bird and so on. He does not require Israel, or us, to sacrifice goats, sheep or cattle so that He can feed Himself. It was not the sacrifice of animals that He wanted. He said to offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

David responds to God in Psalm 51. He first prays that the Lord will give him a mouth full of praise then he goes on to explain that he understands that the sacrifice the Lord wants is the sacrifice of praise. He tells God that he would gladly give sacrifices of burnt offerings if that is what the Lord wanted but that he knows that is not what the Lord seeks. In truth, I would say that the burnt offerings were necessary because people would not give the Lord what He sought; hearts devoted to Him and mouths which offered praise and thanksgiving. David reveals to us that what God really wants are our hearts.

David spoke about the human heart which is acceptable to God in terms of being broken. He also speaks of a broken spirit. When you look up the word “broken” in Strong’s Concordance you find that it does describe something that is broken. It literally means to burst. Other synonyms found in Strong’s are crush, destroy, hurt quench. This was not what I expected to find when I looked up the word. I was thinking of a heart which is not proud or haughty, a humble heart and spirit so I was surprised that David used a word that truly does mean broken. There is one other term that Strong’s uses in defining this word which, I believe, reconciles both viewpoints. The word shabar (broken) means break down, in pieces, etc. but in it is the idea of rebirth. The Strong’s definition literally says “bring to birth.” This means that God wants to receive our hearts in such a condition that he can rebirth them in His glory.

We sometimes talk about people having to hit rock bottom before they can get their lives in order. Perhaps there is an element of that kind of contriteness in this verse. Remember that David has already prayed for God to create in him a clean, upright heart (v. 10). I believe what we learn from this is that which God wants from us is a heart which has been cleansed of the worldly mess and all of our preconceived notions so that He can write His truth upon it. God will create a new, glorified creature in each one of us but he needs that clean, white slate upon which to write. He is not going to argue doctrine with us. He is not going to battle with us over what the truth really is. He will give us all truth and wisdom freely but we must first give Him a clean slate upon which He can write. We must prepare our hearts in the sense that we must offer them to God with a willingness for Him to fill them with Himself and His words. We do not have to do any of the work to clean them other than pray and receive. Jesus has already provided the heart wash and stocked it with cleaning fluid. All we have to do is to decide to drive our hearts through it. That’s all but it is a critical piece of the process. We must first do our part and then Father, Son and Holy Spirit will take over from there.

 So this is the sacrifice that the Lord requires of us, our hearts. 

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