Ps 5:11-12 “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you. 12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” NIV
The Apostle Paul said, “… our life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Those who accept the Lord have a place of refuge beyond any other. What is there to be happy about in this life? I am with Christ! I am hidden from Satan’s accusations. God’s desire is that the knowledge of this place of safety brings forth praise in our lives. What a precious gift the Father has given us, to be hidden in Him. God spreads his protection over those who love His name so that we will rejoice in Him. He desires to be our joy, our source.
The psalmist declares that the Father surrounds the righteous with favor as a shield. God has placed a protective shield around your life to keep you and to secure his purposes in you. This shield is called the favor of the Lord. When we live a life that is pleasing to God he has committed to making our way for us. The very means of protecting your destiny is that God places favor on you. It was said of both John the Baptist and the Lord himself in the verses related to the youth that they “grew in favor with both God and man.” This is the shield of the Lord.
When others are going through economic shaking those who are hidden in the Lord can lean on this promise of favor being on our lives. When the enemy seems to be gaining ground in the culture and it is harder and harder for the righteous to live in this age God can place favor on his saints. Both Daniel and Joseph walked in the favor of the Lord. Each was righteous in the midst of an unrighteous culture and the Lord set them apart with such favor that it protected them even in a foreign land and caused them to rise to the top in the midst of their trials. They lived under the blessing of Deut 28:13 “The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”
Friday
Psalm 5:7-8 - January 30, 2009
Ps 5:7-8 “But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies — make straight your way before me.” NIV
In his mercy God draws us. Jesus declares in John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” Without the Holy Spirit calling us we cannot come. This is reflected in the desires of your heart. The very fact that you desire God is evidence of his mercy touching your heart. This knowledge should produce an abundance of good fruit in the form of both thanksgiving and reverence as we understand that it is God’s mercy that has enabled us to come into his holy place.
A heart of reverence is a precious gift from God. The ability to appreciate God’s worth and to live in a genuine, healthy fear of the Lord is a precious treasure. This heart leads me into the presence of God with a right spirit so that I may come to God bringing him the praise that he is due from a heart that understands the difference between the weak life that I bring as an offering and the graciousness of a perfect, pure and powerful God who has chosen to welcome me into his presence.
From this place of reverence we can ask with certainty for the leading of the Lord into his perfect will. A heart in right order can expect God. We can be assured that he desires to direct our steps, deliver us from evil and lead us into his many great and precious promises. He desires to lead us in the straight-way. Too often it is our own heart condition that leaves us vulnerable to the enemy and causes us to fall into paths that are not straight but are distractions from the directions that God has for us.
In his mercy God draws us. Jesus declares in John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” Without the Holy Spirit calling us we cannot come. This is reflected in the desires of your heart. The very fact that you desire God is evidence of his mercy touching your heart. This knowledge should produce an abundance of good fruit in the form of both thanksgiving and reverence as we understand that it is God’s mercy that has enabled us to come into his holy place.
A heart of reverence is a precious gift from God. The ability to appreciate God’s worth and to live in a genuine, healthy fear of the Lord is a precious treasure. This heart leads me into the presence of God with a right spirit so that I may come to God bringing him the praise that he is due from a heart that understands the difference between the weak life that I bring as an offering and the graciousness of a perfect, pure and powerful God who has chosen to welcome me into his presence.
From this place of reverence we can ask with certainty for the leading of the Lord into his perfect will. A heart in right order can expect God. We can be assured that he desires to direct our steps, deliver us from evil and lead us into his many great and precious promises. He desires to lead us in the straight-way. Too often it is our own heart condition that leaves us vulnerable to the enemy and causes us to fall into paths that are not straight but are distractions from the directions that God has for us.
Thursday
Psalm 5:1-3 - January 29, 2009
Ps 5:1-3 “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” NIV
When our hearts are aching, when the cares of life are weighing us down God is listening. He is waiting for the uplifted voice. His ear is attentive to the groaning of the weary heart. Just as the night is an opportunity for listening the morning is a time for crying out. The psalmist identifies in this passage his routine, his personal discipline. More important than the time of day, is the consistency of his habits in God. Do you have an appointment with the Lord?
The cry of the psalmist is rising morning by morning, morning by morning, sighing, crying for help lifting up his voice in expectation! Faith is reflected in these two things: consistency and expectation. The spiritual habits that you discipline yourself to live consistently are a reflection of your faith and dependency. Living with expectation is the path to response from God.
Heb 11:6 states, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”. Diligent seeking is the result of a conviction that there is a reward awaiting those who choose this path.
It is time to expect great things from God. Seek him with a whole heart and expect that the reward of God will be great. The first reward is God himself. The second is a pattern of receiving the fulfillment of his many great and precious promises will be established in your life, and experience breeds more experience. Once you have tasted of a consistent response to your consistent pursuit a spiritual hunger is awakened that there is no turning back from.
It is time to expect great things from God. Seek him with a whole heart and expect that the reward of God will be great. The first reward is God himself. The second is a pattern of receiving the fulfillment of his many great and precious promises will be established in your life, and experience breeds more experience. Once you have tasted of a consistent response to your consistent pursuit a spiritual hunger is awakened that there is no turning back from.
Wednesday
Psalm 4:4 - January 28, 2009
Ps 4:4 “…when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” NIV
What do you do with your night time? We are invited by the Lord to use the night seasons purposefully. As the day winds down and we begin to enter in to the stillness of the day this is a time that can be rich in reflection. Psalm four tells us simply but powerfully, “search your hearts and be silent”. It is in silence that we can truly come into a place of seeing the true condition of our hearts and our lives.
It is in the quiet of the night time hours that we are invited by the Lord to a deeper place of reflection. Don’t yield to the compulsion to turn on the television or the stereo when you find yourself awake in the night hours. There is often a restlessness that drives us to fill the inner void with noise or entertainment because we are overwhelmed by the silence and have not learned to focus our thoughts. Paul teaches us how to do this in II Co. 10:5 by saying, “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” These moments can also be an invitation to the Lord to a great place of inner transformation as we learn to conquer that restlessness and turn instead to a place of silent reflection.
Try taking out the scriptures, a notebook and a pen in those night seasons and reach into the silence in search of the voice of God and understanding of your own heart condition. God is waiting in the silence, to speak into your heart with light and peace.
What do you do with your night time? We are invited by the Lord to use the night seasons purposefully. As the day winds down and we begin to enter in to the stillness of the day this is a time that can be rich in reflection. Psalm four tells us simply but powerfully, “search your hearts and be silent”. It is in silence that we can truly come into a place of seeing the true condition of our hearts and our lives.
It is in the quiet of the night time hours that we are invited by the Lord to a deeper place of reflection. Don’t yield to the compulsion to turn on the television or the stereo when you find yourself awake in the night hours. There is often a restlessness that drives us to fill the inner void with noise or entertainment because we are overwhelmed by the silence and have not learned to focus our thoughts. Paul teaches us how to do this in II Co. 10:5 by saying, “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” These moments can also be an invitation to the Lord to a great place of inner transformation as we learn to conquer that restlessness and turn instead to a place of silent reflection.
Try taking out the scriptures, a notebook and a pen in those night seasons and reach into the silence in search of the voice of God and understanding of your own heart condition. God is waiting in the silence, to speak into your heart with light and peace.
Tuesday
Psalm 4:3 - January 27, 2009
Ps 4:3 “Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him.” NIV
The Lord has set apart a people in the earth for himself. The kind man, the righteous one is set apart by the Lord for his own purposes. I Ch. 16:9 tells us that the eyes of the Lord range search throughout the earth seeking to find the one whose heart belongs completely to him so that he might fully support that one. God does indeed look for the whole hearted. Paul expressed gratitude in I Ti. 1:12 that the Lord had considered him faithful, resulting in Paul being put into the Lord’s service.God is searching for faithful men and women that he can invest in. He calls many and then the call begins to work in the lives of those who are called, sifting, refining our choices, preparing a people for God. Joseph was refined by the call as were both David and Moses. Each received an invitation to a destination; come and live a life that changes the world. Each was set apart by the Lord and prepared with fire for its fulfillment. Times of revelation, times of waiting, times of pain, times of doubt and fear all worked together to prove the character of these men that had been set apart by God.Our father is watching!
Proverbs 15:3 states that His eyes are everywhere, “keeping watch on the wicked and the good”. Paul’s prayer was that the church would live a life worthy of the calling of God. Who will live a life worthy of being set apart for God? Who will respond to the call? Isaiah said, “Here am I send me!”
in Is. 6. Imagine being that person who has been marked by God and set apart for a Holy purpose. This is the invitation for every believer. Paul states the invitation this way in
2 Tim 2:20-21 “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” NIV The glorious thing about our heavenly father is that he issues this invitation to all and lets the choice be ours what kind of response we will give and what kind of vessel we will become.
The Lord has set apart a people in the earth for himself. The kind man, the righteous one is set apart by the Lord for his own purposes. I Ch. 16:9 tells us that the eyes of the Lord range search throughout the earth seeking to find the one whose heart belongs completely to him so that he might fully support that one. God does indeed look for the whole hearted. Paul expressed gratitude in I Ti. 1:12 that the Lord had considered him faithful, resulting in Paul being put into the Lord’s service.God is searching for faithful men and women that he can invest in. He calls many and then the call begins to work in the lives of those who are called, sifting, refining our choices, preparing a people for God. Joseph was refined by the call as were both David and Moses. Each received an invitation to a destination; come and live a life that changes the world. Each was set apart by the Lord and prepared with fire for its fulfillment. Times of revelation, times of waiting, times of pain, times of doubt and fear all worked together to prove the character of these men that had been set apart by God.Our father is watching!
Proverbs 15:3 states that His eyes are everywhere, “keeping watch on the wicked and the good”. Paul’s prayer was that the church would live a life worthy of the calling of God. Who will live a life worthy of being set apart for God? Who will respond to the call? Isaiah said, “Here am I send me!”
in Is. 6. Imagine being that person who has been marked by God and set apart for a Holy purpose. This is the invitation for every believer. Paul states the invitation this way in
2 Tim 2:20-21 “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” NIV The glorious thing about our heavenly father is that he issues this invitation to all and lets the choice be ours what kind of response we will give and what kind of vessel we will become.
Monday
Psalm 1:1-3 - January 26, 2009
Ps 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” NIV
The man truly set apart to God! Who will be such a man? Where is the man who chooses God as his source of life and values? This psalm speaks a blessing over such a man. The emphasis of the passage is the blessing that comes upon that one person in a thousand who truly sets their way apart unto God! There is a distinct emphasis in this passage on the rarity of the character of the person who makes this choice fully and from a joyful heart. The blessings of God upon our lives flow out of the life choices that we make and the people we choose to give a voice of influence in our lives. Where do you walk? Whose counsel do you listen to? Whose voice influences your actions? Is it your co-workers, the business you work for, the televisions set or the radio? We are called by this psalm to build our lives on a higher standard than the world around us. The Word of God is the foundation of blessed life choices. It is the center of a blessed values system. The Word of God presents itself to us as something more than a good philosophy. It is the bread of life. The Word itself invites us to delight in its message, to be trained up by its influence upon our hearts. Psalm one points to the life that delights in the word of God as a life that is like a well watered and fruitful tree. What makes this passage so moving is that it is an invitation to choose what you will delight in. We all delight in those things that we have given our hearts to. This passage calls us to give our hearts to the Word of God as the source of our delights. Too many times we consider the Word as AN option not, THE ONLY OPTION, for our lives and choices.
He. 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active…that it penetrates soul and spirit and that it judges thoughts and intentions of the heart. In today’s culture where the voice of the age says, “question everything” many have lost the power and wisdom that is available to those who have placed their faith in the sure foundation of the inerrant Word of God. This passage shows us the reward of a blessed life that is the outcome of making the Word the central voice of influence in our hearts and minds.
The man truly set apart to God! Who will be such a man? Where is the man who chooses God as his source of life and values? This psalm speaks a blessing over such a man. The emphasis of the passage is the blessing that comes upon that one person in a thousand who truly sets their way apart unto God! There is a distinct emphasis in this passage on the rarity of the character of the person who makes this choice fully and from a joyful heart. The blessings of God upon our lives flow out of the life choices that we make and the people we choose to give a voice of influence in our lives. Where do you walk? Whose counsel do you listen to? Whose voice influences your actions? Is it your co-workers, the business you work for, the televisions set or the radio? We are called by this psalm to build our lives on a higher standard than the world around us. The Word of God is the foundation of blessed life choices. It is the center of a blessed values system. The Word of God presents itself to us as something more than a good philosophy. It is the bread of life. The Word itself invites us to delight in its message, to be trained up by its influence upon our hearts. Psalm one points to the life that delights in the word of God as a life that is like a well watered and fruitful tree. What makes this passage so moving is that it is an invitation to choose what you will delight in. We all delight in those things that we have given our hearts to. This passage calls us to give our hearts to the Word of God as the source of our delights. Too many times we consider the Word as AN option not, THE ONLY OPTION, for our lives and choices.
He. 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active…that it penetrates soul and spirit and that it judges thoughts and intentions of the heart. In today’s culture where the voice of the age says, “question everything” many have lost the power and wisdom that is available to those who have placed their faith in the sure foundation of the inerrant Word of God. This passage shows us the reward of a blessed life that is the outcome of making the Word the central voice of influence in our hearts and minds.
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