Psalm 4:4 - January 23, 2010

Due to the earthquake in Haiti and our involvement in the nation we will post some of the best devotionals from last year in the coming season. The devotionals are of the book of Psalms.

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.

Psalm 4:3 - January 22, 2010

Due to the earthquake in Haiti and our involvement in the nation we will post some of the best devotionals from last year in the coming season. The devotionals are of the book of Psalms.

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. Ii 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.

Psalm 1:1-3 - January 21, 2010

Due to the earthquake in Haiti and our involvement in the nation we will post some of the best devotionals from last year in the coming season. The devotionals are of the book of Psalms.

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.