Tag: psalms

From Despair to Praises to God!

Every rose bush has it’s thorns but we celebrate the beauty of the flower.

Focus is the key.

In our broken world, I have choice. You have choice. We all have choice to focus on the thorns or the rose.

I might start my morning strong in believing my Lord, but often, dark clouds of trial and hurt, pain and sorrow come quickly to cover the Son’s warmth and love by noonday.

The praise to God in my heart flies away leaving me flat and despairing.

I become cut up by the thorns of life and forget to be careful in my thoughts. I forget to enjoy the rose.

As a believer in Christ, I’m tested. We’re tested. We pray for this when we ask of God to:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 119: 23,24.

The Lord is faithful to answer my request. He shows me . . . Impatience. Inner destructive dialogue of myself and others. Stubbornness. Unbelief. Hatred.

The beauty of the Lord is: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13.

Let’s choose to change our mind when we’re flooded with troubles and tempted with thoughts that destroy, and instead choose to grow in the grace of our Lord and in knowledge of Him.

How? We’ll proclaim aloud His glory from His Word and grow in believing:

Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness Psalm 96: 13.

Do I believe He will? Do we believe God?

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary Psalm 96: 4,5,6.

Do I believe He is? Do we believe?

For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land Psalm 95:3.

He is the great King above all gods.

How can we despair in the midst of praise?

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.

Can we say together? Has our faith increased? Yes, we will:

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity Psalm 96: 7-10.

I will focus in the morning. I will re-focus at noon. Join me in desiring to have a song the whole day through:

Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:1-3.

Jesus is the rose:

“I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys” Song of Songs 2:1.

Can we help each other keep our eyes on the Rose? Together, we win.

Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care Psalm 95: 6.

Amen. Amen.

Let me know if you joined me in proclaiming, “In Jesus name, Amen.”

Help for the Restless Spirit: Be Still My Soul / Psalm 18

Music therapy, vibration of strings to move fretful waters of heart and mind plus the reading of God’s Word = rest, refreshment, revelation, revival.

When we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.

Take 3 minutes to meditate in a hymn and a psalm and discover the transforming hope and help of the Lord. He abides in our praise. Praise Him actively, today.

I write this for myself. I pray there is someone else that will be renewed in spirit and mind this day by actively meditating on the great and precious promises of God through these gems of the past:

When the restlessness of mind, body, and spirit overwhelms, there is power in the hymns and psalms. Be Still My Soul & Psalm 18 are heart and mind transforming.

This is recorded for one purpose alone, therapy. Do you know someone who might be feeling alone? Restless? Confused? Overwhelmed?

Consider sharing this meditation of hymn and psalm.

Be renewed, now. Meditating on the word and God’s truth rescues us.

Psalm 18.

I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

4 The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place;
His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows and scattered [e]the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

16 He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
19 He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.

20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also blameless before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
27 For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down haughty looks.

28 For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

31 For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You enlarged my path under me,
So my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
38 I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have [i]subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save;
Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I cast them out like dirt in the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
You have made me the head of the [j]nations;
A people I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners [k]submit to me.
45 The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.

46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me,
And subdues the peoples under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.

50 Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forevermore.

“Today, today.” I hear Jesus call. Let’s hear His voice and take hold of all He is, (our Everything), and actively give Him praise that we might celebrate the victories He has for us, now and forever.

An Old Prayer. Today, our heart’s prayer and desire? #3

Ravi Zacharias spoke from the Book of Nehemiah to a group of missionaries many years ago.

His final encouragement, a memorized prayer written in the 1700’s by Charles Wesley, became my primary take-away:

O Thou Who camest from above,
The pure celestial fire t’ impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.

There let it for Thy glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze,
And trembling to its source return,
In humble prayer and fervent praise.

Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire
To work and speak and think for Thee;
Still let me guard the holy fire,
And still stir up Thy gift in me.

Ready for all Thy perfect will,
My acts of faith and love repeat,
Till death Thy endless mercies seal,
And make my sacrifice complete.

Today, I’d like to work on memorizing this outstanding prayer, that it remain in my remembrance.

As we walk through a world-wide pandemic together, each has their own set of circumstance, yet we all have grief of loss. Each of us, are pressing through loss.

Shall we not walk up to Jerusalem, the city of our God, so to speak, with the song of Ascents, with newly kindled hearts?

I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, Psalm 123:1-3.

The Living Words revive us by giving us a place to look outside ourselves, our governments, our world.

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith Hab 2:4. 

Apart from God we’re nothing. He graciously, through the blood atonement of His Son, grants mercy to those who believe.

Can we hear the voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness of our hearts today,

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Today . . .

Behold with me? Shall we confess our sins, each quietly to Him?

“And trembling to its Source return in humble prayer and fervent praise.”

“Jesus confirm my hearts desire to work and speak and think for Thee. Still let me guard Thy Holy Fire and still stir up Thy gifts in me.

Ready for all Thy Perfect will, my acts of faith and love repeat, ’till death Thy endless mercy seal and make my sacrifice complete.

May we open God’s Word and proclaim A Song of Ascents together:

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dreamed.
 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
    our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
 The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

 Restore our fortunes, Lord,
    like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
 Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them Psalm 126.

O Thou Who camest from above,
The pure celestial fire t’ impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Snapshots of Thankfulness to God through my doubts and confusion

I am thankful. Thankful to God, because He hears our cries for mercy.

But first, I must confess a snapshot of yesterday morning.

One of disappointment, confusion, stress, and unrest.

Yes, ultimately, I wasn’t disappointed about circumstances or people, (but, consciously, I might of thought myself to be), but because I truly believe the Lord is in control and that everything that happens is “filtered through the Father’s fingers,”

I need to be flat out honest here, in all reality, my anger and disappointment was toward God.

I believe in God. But yesterday morning, every ounce of my being was in warfare. I was fighting a battle in my mind, and my heart, I suppose, as I woke to face a challenging day.

Just do the next thing, words I remembered from Elisabeth Elliot came to mind, so I opened God’s Word,  in Psalm 34 in my rough state of being:

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; . . .

I couldn’t find a song. It’s as if it were lost. I felt I was dangling in an ocean’s depths with seaweed around my neck.

In this snapshot of  my moments of confusion and doubt, I felt as if trying to believe His word, but as in a dream, unable to reach the destination.

Trying to find some solid foundation,  but the seaweed of confusion had me sunk below the surface.

“I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears, . . .” 
More like, ” I fought the LORD, and doubt had silenced my cry.”

I read on in Psalm 34, but I was unable to grasp anything to bring rest and peace to my heart.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!

There is no want to those who fear Him.
 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;

But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

Because of circumstance, I was sinking in unbelief. I later sent texts for prayer.
I called a family member who knows me—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Prayers to our God were given.

The next snapshot of the day, is the struggle to breathe in and out through activity and interaction, minute by minute, hour after hour.  And, all the while, fighting inside to find the air of Peace, and Truth, and Comfort, and Joy.

Just do the next thing . . . this thought, my only motivation.
But, in hectic and schedule, I walked through a door. His hand picked me up. His arms took hold of my weak flesh. He turned my lack into abundance.
God did.
The very One whom I was disappointed in before.

God reached out and touched my sinking heart by hands from . . . the Church. 
The Snapshot: People pooled together in energy ignited by the Lord, (because He did hear my cries. God does hear our voice.)  Out of the ocean’s depths of sorrow, I was picked up in an instant.

Immediately, lifted from heaviness to light was I.

So, this morning I write. “Thank you God for Your faithful love and grace. And Thank you Lord for Your hands touching me through the Church. Dear Lord, help us remember and believe past our unbelief:

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry . . .
 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.

 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all,

I believe You dear Lord, and I thank You for Your Word, and the loving hands of Your Church.

I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed. 

To Psalm 34, the Lord’s faithfulness, and the Love of the Church, I say this new morning, Amen.”

The Snapshot: Joy.

 

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

  ‘A Shelter in the Time of Storm’.
A hymn written by Vernon J. Charlesworth sometime in the 1880’s, has power to change worry to calm. Oh the power of the hymn, if we only knew these words as they did back when:
A Shelter in the Time of storm: “The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide, A shelter in the time of storm; Secure whatever ill betide, A shelter in the time of storm.”
“O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land; A Shelter in the time of storm.”
“A shade by day, defense by night, A shelter in the time of storm; No fears alarm, no foes affright, A shelter in the time of storm.
“The raging storms may round us beat, A shelter in the time of storm; We’ll never leave our safe retreat, A shelter in the time of storm.”
“O Rock divine, O Refuge dear, A shelter in the time of storm; Be Thou our helper ever near, A shelter in the time of storm. O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land; A shelter in the time of storm!”
Thank you Vernon J. Charlesworth for your pen, that chose to write, way back when, so my heart and mind can think of this, and speak these words that bring about peace.
A hymn, so powerful to bring a calm. Rich in truth and and a healing balm. God’s word, a sword against our foe, can be our help when the storm rages so:  “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” Psalms 32 verse seven. Do I make the choice to receive this in faith? Do I take hold of the truth, so that I might finish the race?
God gave us choice. What then? Do we stop and be still so we can hear Him? Oh, the struggle. Oh, the fight. Our very natures resist being still! We want to ‘get back’ we want to ‘be right!’
‘Pause and think quietly upon all of this.’ “Selah” is the remedy for quiet bliss: Psalm 32 verse seven is written, that I might open it up to seek God’s face in heaven.
‘Even though we may walk in the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil,’ because ‘in Him’ we reside.  He is a Shelter in the Time of storm, and  – in Him – we hide!
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you ,again” and again,  “it is a safeguard for you.” (Philipians 3:1, emphasis, mine.)
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”  (Let us choose to cling to God’s word at this time), Philippians 4:4, is our key to remember that the Lord is watching, the Lord can hear, the Lord knows everything – and yes, He is near!
‘He knows our frame. He knows we are dust’ (1). He knows we need forgiveness. He knows all the mess. He is Sovereign, …
He is Omniscient, …
He is Omnipotent.
Turn to Him,  for salvation, One time is enough, but moment by moment, draw near to Him – for power and strength and a refuge in the storm. He is Love, He is Able, He is the LORD.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -… 
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things… and the God of peace will be with you.” Phillipians  Four, 8 and 9. God’s word, and hymns and Psalms are divine, full of supernatural strength for all time.
Today, do you choose to take refuge in Him? Moment by moment, call out His name. He hears, He guides, and He calls you to come, to take refuge under the shadow of His loving arms. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28; God’s word, a refuge for us.
“The raging storms may round us beat, A shelter in the time of storm; We’ll never leave our safe retreat, A shelter in the time of storm.”
“O Rock divine, O Refuge dear, A shelter in the time of storm; Be Thou our helper ever near, A shelter in the time of storm. O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land; A shelter in the time of storm!”
May these words become well-worn. Thank you Vernon J. Charlesworth for ‘A shelter in the time of storm’. But most of all, thank you Jesus, for Your righteous right arm!
(1) Psalm 103:14.

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