Energy Drink

On August 5, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 2             TPT

I’m energized every time I enter your heavenly sanctuary to seek more of your power and drink in more of your glory.

This is another Psalm of David’s. He did not write every psalm, but he did write a good many of them. Verse one reminds us why God said David was a man after God’s own heart. It reads, “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Isn’t that good?  From this beginning point David goes on to expressing two important thoughts. Notice though, that he begins in adoration of the Father. I believe that may be a significant fact explaining David’s success.

Verse two goes on to reveal that David believed he routinely entered God’s heavenly sanctuary. That’s quite a statement! How did he enter the Father’s heavenly sanctuary? It must be that in David’s times of meditation he visualized himself entering the Father’s haven. Selah, pause and consider that. David is matter of fact about this part of verse two. It is just the set up for what he wants to say. That tells me that to David this was routine and nothing worth commenting upon. It is just what he did. He entered into the Father’s presence regularly.

I have noted that modern Christians often pray for God to invade our space. First, it shouldn’t be an invasion. He should be welcome here all of the time. The bigger point, though, is that we seem to be keen on inviting the Father into our space but perhaps not quite as intentional about visiting him. There is nothing wrong with asking Dad into our activities. That’s a good thing. It seems clear to me from this passage, though, that we should regularly visit Him at His house.

Second, it must be okay to seek God’s power. It is right here in a psalm. Father didn’t correct David for going to the throne room seeking more of His power. In fact, He apparently granted David’s request in ever increasing amounts. David drank in the Father’s glory. He looked upon the Father in His grace and majesty and was renewed, physically, but likely spiritually, emotionally and mentally as well. David came away from His time meditating WITH the Lord, energized. Wow! Is this going off as loudly in you as it is in me? We gain energy from hanging out with God at His house. Moreover, we are allowed to go to His sanctuary to stock up on energy and seek God’s power and glory.

I find this an empowering verse and I certainly hope you do too. We don’t have to continually, nor solely, pray for God’s glory to infiltrate the earth. That’s great but any time any of us wishes to bathe ourselves in the Father’s glory, we have a standing invitation to the Throne Room of Grace which is full of mercy and refreshing. You can show up and drink in His glory. That is astounding to me. Are you thirsty? I know I am. Let’s see how God’s glory satisfies.

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Living Water

On March 1, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 7: 37 – 39

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This verse is enlightening, and I believe it brings a certain amount of joy as well. It celebrates both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What word jumps out at you from the passage? I am intrigued by the word “cried.”

As I read the gospels I perceive Jesus as very cool under fire. When put on the spot, he once simply knelt down and began to doodle in the dirt. This is not the person I think of “crying out.” It is no great leap to conjecture that this message was of keen importance to Jesus. Can you picture this scene? Apparently, everyone was seated because Jesus stood. They were feasting. Who was there? How many people do you reckon were gathered? In the midst of the feast Jesus stood up and cried out with a loud voice. Wow! That must have been a sight. One can certainly suppose that the message was vital for Jesus to interrupt the feast and to make such a spectacle of himself.

Interestingly enough, the message was not about salvation. It wasn’t even about sin. Why didn’t he jump up and say, “Come all you sinners. I will save your soul from eternity in hell.” That is what most of us would expect but only because we don’t know Jesus well enough. Jesus took care of the sin problem. He conquered hell. His real message is displayed in this cry. “Come to me all you who are thirsty. I will satisfy your thirst.”

How did Jesus plan to satisfy the deep and enduring thirsty within us? He already knew about the Father’s plan to send the Holy Spirit into the earth. God made the promise back in Joel 2: 28. Then John the Baptist revealed that Jesus would baptize us in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3: 11). Now, here, in the early chapters of John we discover that those who believe in Jesus were to receive the Spirit. Right before Jesus’ exit from planet earth he gathered his followers and advised them. He was passing the torch to all who would follow him. He told them not to leave Jerusalem “but to wait for what the Father had promised . . . for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit,” (Acts 1: 4 – 5). Then Jesus was taken up in a cloud of glory. He was glorified in the earth and in heaven as his disciples watched.

So, Jesus’ essential message was come, receive the filling of the Holy Spirit so that you will never again thirst. The living water of the Holy Spirit is a river flowing in the spirit of those who ask and receive. The invitation was simple, “Come,” Jesus said. Anyone who is thirsty is invited to the well. As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, he says also to you, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water,” (John 4: 10). Receive the living water. Be filled and satisfied.

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Seek and Dare

On June 14, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 1

O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; my soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Will you pray this simple, yet elegant prayer to the Lord? Can you slow down for a moment and say these words to Abba, your Father? Life is busy but I find it is not necessarily busy with the important things. This is the most important thing you can do right now.

As you know, I have been autographing copies of my book when people buy them. In one I wrote that the best advice I can give anyone, the one piece of advice that will carry them through life and serve them in all circumstances is this, seek God continually.

Did you notice how well today’s verse marries up with yesterday’s. Do you find that interesting? Perhaps the writer of Hebrews had this verse in mind. The writer of today’s psalm was David. God said of David that he was a man after His own heart. After reading today’s verse, is there any doubt why? David loved God and chased after Him. He yearned for Him. God gives us living water as elucidated in John 7: 37 and John 4: 10. This living water soothes and nourishes even in the darkest hours of life. David relied on the living water to quench his thirst and God provided. David sought after God though.

I trust that if we will yearn for God as did David, God will also satisfy us. He will reward our seeking. Do you believe this is true? If you really believe it in your heart, not merely believe it in your mind, then you will chase after Him as David did. The problem with us is that we don’t really believe all this stuff from the Bible. We don’t let David’s words penetrate our hearts and inspire action within us. We are afraid to believe; afraid of being disappointed so we do nothing. Inactivity at least saves us from disappointment.

I do not believe our God will disappoint us. I will stake my reputation on it. If you seek Him, you will find Him. He wants you to find Him. I am throwing down the gauntlet. Will you dare to seek Him? Will you earnestly search for Him? I dare you!

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Longing, Yearning and Seeking

On March 21, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 1

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Here are the words of someone who loves God, I mean who really, really loves God. Who do you think wrote these words? If you said, “David” you are right. One of the things I love about David is his passion for the Lord. He inspires me but also shames me a little. Another thing I appreciate about him is his willingness to express his love and devotion to the Father. I also am impressed with his ability to express these ardent emotions.

For those of us living in the western world, the expression of emotions is almost a lost art. We have learned to spurn emotions themselves, how much more the expression of them? God, though, is emotional. He is love which is more than an emotion but certainly involves the emotions. He also hates. Did you know that? Run a search on that and you will see. He and David had a love relationship with each other and neither was afraid to admit or express it. David was so demonstrative of his love for God that he made his wife mad. Maybe she was a bit jealous.

I admit that David embarrasses me a little with his confessions of love. Here is today’s verse as it appears in the Amplified version, “O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” His longing for God is palpable. You can feel the deep yearning in his soul for the touch of God, for God’s presence. I find David’s desperate need for communion challenging but God says of David that he, “is a man after my own heart” (Acts 13: 22). David longed for the Father, trusted Him and sought to follow His ways. Some people talk about David’s sins but until God recognizes me as one after His heart then I will refrain from judging David. In fact, I look forward to meeting him and telling him how much his songs inspired me. Oh that I might be like David and yearn for the Father will all my being as he did; with a desire so strong for fellowship with the Father that he ached in his emotions and even in his body.

We are blessed that David shared his emotions and his relationship with God with us. We, like peeping Tom’s, get to peer inside and gain a new perspective on the depth of relationship we can enjoy with the Father even while we are here in the earth. “Bless the Lord oh my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103: 1) and teach me to seek Him as fervently as did David.

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Satisfied

On September 28, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 9            (Amplified)

For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

We all know someone who is hungry on the inside. Their soul longs for something and thirsts desperately. They don’t even know what it is that they so urgently crave. As humans we try to fill that longing with all sorts of things. You know the list.

Each and every one of us has a place in our hearts, in our souls that only God can fill. We can try every sort of thing to make ourselves happy but it never works. We have a deep, spiritual place in our being that needs to be ministered to in like manner as we feed and nourish our minds and bodies. We are tri-dimensional beings and nothing short of spiritual food can feed the spiritual parts of ourselves. You can drink all the booze you want, work all the hours you can, go from lover to lover, and all of the other various things people do in order to satisfy themselves but none of it will satisfy. Money will never fill the void and neither can another person. So, if you are waiting for someone or something to make you whole, give it up. Only God can fill that spiritual void in your life. And don’t get to thinking that a bunch of non-Godly spirituality can do it. That is about like your body living on sugar alone. It will not, cannot satisfy. Only the love of God can fill that hungry spot. Only His Spirit can nourish your spirit. The sooner we all realize that our spirits long for His sweet embrace, the sooner we can get healthy, the sooner we will be whole.

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Desperate Thirst

On September 17, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 42: 1

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.

Have you heard the story about the young man who wanted to learn the secret to success? He sought the great guru and inquired of him. When the wizened old man led the seeker into the river and held him under water until the young man was desperate for air the secret was revealed. “When you want success,” the old man told him, “as much as you wanted air, then you will find it.”

So it is with God. When we seek Him with that same kind of desperation and desire, then we shall find Him. Our souls should pant for God. We should be so desperately thirsty that nothing can stand in the way of our finding all that we want.

1 Chronicles 28: 9 reads, “If you seek him, he will be found by you (NIV). God wants to be found by you. I like to say He hides in plain sight. You just have to open your eyes and look. We must direct our eyes to see. He is there waving a flag at you hoping that you will look to Him.  “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55: 6). He is waiting.

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Thirsty

On April 7, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 55: 1

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters.
 
One thing amazes me above all things; we live in a world full of people who thirst deep down in their souls and Jesus is right here offering them the coolest, most refreshing water and yet most don’t avail themselves of this life giving offer. Jesus has everything we need and he is standing calling and offering. Do people love their pain so much? Spread the word that Jesus is our substance and is longingly giving all that is needed. He is calling out. All who are thirsty, come drink!

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