“It is For God Alone My Soul Waits in Silence.” Psalmists Invitation to Pray a Prayer of Rest for Our Sabbath Days. Psalm 62.

Psalm 62 The Message

62 ^1-2God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

^3-4How long will you gang up on me?
    How long will you run with the bullies?
There’s nothing to you, any of you—
    rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,
Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,
    far gone in make-believe.
You talk a good line,
    but every “blessing” breathes a curse.

^5-6God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

^7-8My help and glory are in God
    —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
So trust him absolutely, people;
    lay your lives on the line for him.
    God is a safe place to be.

⁹Man as such is smoke,
woman as such, a mirage.
Put them together, they’re nothing;
two times nothing is nothing.

¹⁰And a windfall, if it comes—
don’t make too much of it.

¹¹God said this once and for all;
how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
“Strength comes
Straight from God.”

¹²Love to you, Lord God!
You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Psalm 62 … God and God Alone is Our Only Rest and Salvation

When you wait on God, you find He is your salvation and provider of all you need. Only God can fill the need of your soul.

Your Salvation

If you are like me, my first response when faced with a significant problem is to gather up all my resources and do everything I can to fix it.

The bigger the problem, the more frantic and anxious I become.

King David wrote this psalm during a particularly difficult time in his life.

He was facing constant attacks from his son, who was trying to overthrow his rule as king.

Instead of gathering his army and advisors, the first thing he did was go to the Lord.

David understood that trusting in men was foolish.

It was not about his strength or wisdom but God’s deliverance.

David saw God as his only true source of salvation.

He stopped everything to get with the Lord.

David didn’t come to God with loud cries or pleas for help.

He came to God in silence.

He waited before the Lord without speaking.

When I face a problem, I want to tell God all about it.

Too often, I come before Him filled with fear and anxiety.

David came before God in complete rest.

David had a quiet confidence that God would see him through.

So often, we think prayer is about what we say and how we say it.

If we can just use the right words, God will surely see our needs and answer our prayers.

David understood it was not about his words but his faith.

When you set your mind and soul to wait silently before the Lord, it’s not only an expression of your openness to God but a complete dependence on Him.

Salvation and deliverance are always gifts of grace from God and God alone.

David didn’t trust in his strength or the wisdom of others.

He didn’t panic and try to fix everything.

He went to the source of his salvation and waited silently for Him to provide.

One of the great truths of life—if not perhaps the greatest truth—is that when all else fails, when everything else falls apart, there is one and only one person on whom you and I and everyone else can absolutely rely.

And that person is not yourself: it is God. God and God alone.

That is the theme of this psalm. “For God alone my soul waits in silence” (62:1).

“He alone is my rock and salvation” (62:2).

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence” (62:5).

“He alone is my rock and my salvation” (62:6).

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my H.O.P.E. comes from him.” Psalm 62:5

As Christians, we are called to hope.

Not wishful thinking, imagining things, or pining for better days.

Hope.

Hope is not a pipe dream or a fairy tale.

It is a strong action instead of a reaction.

Hope is always alive in Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.

When we choose to live in Christ Jesus …

When we choose to live and choose live in our Savior’s complete hope we:

H – Heed His Word.
Hang onto encouraging verses in Scripture in times of trouble, stress or doubt. Recall His promises, read, mark and memorize helpful verses, and repeat them often.

O – Obey.
Sometimes we have to do things simply because someone in authority says so. If we can trust God and obey, then in hindsight we may look back and see more clearly why He told us.

P – Pray.
Instead of fretting, if we can drop to our knees and lay it at the cross we will find an inner peace which, as Paul states, surpasses our understanding. Much better than jogging in a hamster wheel of worry and churning it over and over in our minds. Pray, lay it down, walk away.

E – Expect.
The more we rely on God’s promises and His timing, then experience will show us things work out for the best when we “let go and let God” handle it.

So pry your fingers off the situation and relax.

A Prayer for the Sabbath – Your Daily Prayer

Exodus 20:8-11 Amplified Bible

⁸“Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].

Rest is so important to God that he put it in the Ten Commandments.

He wants you to take a day off every week.

That’s called the Sabbath, which literally means a day of rest, and God wants us to do it every seventh day.

The day isn’t important.

It doesn’t have to be a certain day, just every seventh day.

It’s so important that even God rested on the seventh day when he created everything — not because He was tired but to give us the ultimate example of how we should be more like God and take that gift of the seventh day to rest.

What do you do on this Sabbath day to actually have it be a day of rest?

1. Rest your body.

God has made us so that we need rest.

If your car engine heat light were showing red, you would stop because you would know it’s going to damage the engine.

God says if you don’t take one day out of seven to rest, if you keep pumping the adrenaline all day, every day, seven days a week, your engine is going to break.

So for your heart to be at its best, your body, mind and soul all requires rest.

You have to take the time to rest.

2. Recharge your emotions.

Just Be Still and Know only God can be, and is God … Psalm 46:10-11

Just be quiet before the Lord!

David’s Prayer

¹⁸Then King David went in and sat [in prayer] before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord ^[a]God, and what is my house (family), that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹Yet this was very insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of Your servant’s house (royal dynasty) in the distant future. And this is the law and custom of man, O Lord God. ²⁰What more can David say to You? For You know (acknowledge, choose) Your servant, O Lord God. [2 Samuel 7:18-20 AMP]

Like King David, take time for God, just sit still, be quiet before the Lord God.

Maybe you need to reconnect in your relationships.

Maybe there’s some kind of recreation that rejuvenates you.

I’m not talking about competitive recreation.

Some of you are not recharging your emotions out on the golf course.

You are just getting angry at your golf clubs or at the other guys golf clubs!

3. Refocus your spirit.

During your Sabbath, you do not take a day off from God.

You worship!

Worship puts life into perspective.

If you’re too busy for God, you’re just too busy.

To make this happen, you have to schedule it.

Psalm 127:2 “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (MSG)

God enjoys giving rest to those he loves.

Be intentional about taking your Sabbath, and make it count!

¹¹God said this once and for all;
how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
“Strength comes
Straight from God.”

¹²Love to you, Lord God!
You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!

be quiet, sit still, Make these confessions.

My salvation comes only from the Lord.
When I face troubles, I look to the Lord.
It’s not about my words but about God’s grace.
I will sit still in the Presence of God my Savior.
I will wait quietly before the God of my salvation.
I will shut my mouth, close both my eyes and open my ears.

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.

A Psalm of David.

138 I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I sing praises to You before the [pagan] gods.
²
I will bow down [in worship] toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word together with Your name.
³
On the day I called, You answered me;
And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.

⁴
All the kings of the land will give thanks and praise You, O Lord,
When they have heard of the promises of Your mouth [which were fulfilled].
⁵
Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord [joyfully celebrating His wonderful acts],
For great is the glory and majesty of the Lord.
⁶
Though the Lord is exalted,
He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship];
But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.

⁷
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
⁸
The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me;
Your [unwavering] lovingkindness, O Lord, endures forever—
Do not abandon the works of Your own hands.

Have faith God will see you through it, and claim His promise as your own.

In the name of God the Father and God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God, let us always choose to hope in You instead of fretting, or getting stressed over things we have no control over. Replace our qualms with quiet, our fears with faith, and our worries with wisdom. Dear Lord, help us make every Sabbath about you alone. Quiet my heart, give rest to my soul, refocus my spirit—for true renewal, true revival, comes only from you. Holy Spirit please help me to be intentional with my time and worship, and encourage me to find rest in you alone. In Jesus’ name.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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The Quickest and Most Courageous Way to Make an Attitude Adjustment. Hebrews 4:10-13

Hebrews 4:10-13 Amplified Bible

¹⁰For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own. ¹¹Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know, experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness]. ¹²For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged ^[a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the ^[b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

The 19th-century English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said the Reformation began when Martin Luther found an old discarded Bible in his monastery.

As he postured himself, he began to read it, subtly God’s Word grew like a seed in his heart and his soul, and the result was a world-transforming movement.

But this gentle image of a seed is not the way the incomparable power of God’s Word is described in Hebrews 4:12, one of the key verses in the foundational idea of sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone.”

Here God’s Word is described as a sharp, powerful, and precise blade, dividing the whole complete truth from all of the rebellious lies we harbor in our hearts.

Only Scripture has this power—not the traditions of any church, nor the acutely accurate insights of any leader.

As Luther said, “A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”

Indeed, in speaking about the Reformation that he initiated, Luther said, “I did nothing. The Word did everything.”

God’s Word, the Bible, has a precision and a power we will find nowhere else.

Will you let it be active in you?

Read it with an open heart?

Let it form the words that come from your mouth?

Let it shape the actions you take?

Adjusting (without our permission and utterly against our wills) our attitudes?

Eventually arriving at the God anointed place where only by knowing and living in and through God’s Word can we please him and serve him in our daily lives?

Is there enough moral courage to let the Word of God take command of our life?

What Does it take to be Courageous?

Isaiah 45:5-7Amplified Bible

⁵
“I am the Lord, and there is no one else;
There is no God except Me.
I will embrace and arm you, though you have not known Me,
⁶
That people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun [the world over]
That there is no one except Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
⁷
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing peace and creating disaster;
I am the Lord who does all these things.

Courage back-builds as we spend time soaked in the Truth of God’s Word.

Understanding who God is and who we are as His children allows us to realize our need for Him.

When we don’t know what’s going to happen, God is already there.

He is all-knowing, everywhere, all of the time.

There is no other God, …..

Isaiah repeated three times in today’s key verses.

Any time a word or phrase is repeated in Scripture, we can assume it’s of heightened importance.

There is no other God.

He alone is mighty to save.

He gives us what we need to live the lives He’s put us on earth to live, before we even know who He is.

We have a never-ending supply of courage available to us, through Christ Jesus.

His Holy Spirit lives in us, activating a supernatural bravery in each of us who dare to publicly proclaim Him our Lord and our Savior.

The One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

There is no other – period!

There can never be another – period!

There will never be another – period!

Our only living hope is in living for Him.

Our only living hope comes from living from Him,

…. as does the courage and bravery we need to wait patiently on Him.

How does the Word of God define Courage?

Joshua 1:5-9Amplified Bible

⁵No man will [be able to] stand before you [to oppose you] as long as you live. Just as I was [present] with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you or abandon you. ⁶Be strong and confident and courageous, for you will give this people as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers (ancestors) to give them. ⁷Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do [everything] in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go. ⁸This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be ^[a]successful. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Courage is born from confidence in our Creator.

Courage shows up 124 times in the Amplified translation of the Bible.

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=courage&version=AMP

The dictionary definition of courage is “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.”

We aren’t promised an easy life following Christ Jesus, but we are guaranteed all we need is the courage drawn from living into, out from, the unchangeable moral, ethical truths in, and throughout the length and breadth of the Word of God to move forward boldly to accomplish what the Lord has set us here to do.

Halley’s Bible Handbook Notes explains “God’s superiority over idols is proven by His ability to foretell the future.

Says Isaiah, our God, whom we worship in our Hebrew nation, not only can do what human beings do, He can do some things that they cannot do: He can foretell things to come.”

Psalm 27:14 says,

“Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, with patiently for the LORD.”

Courage can be stillness, seeking the Lord and waiting patiently for His direction and wisdom.

Instead of rushing to the aid of others to download a situation in exchange for opinions, we wait on the Lord.

Instead of allowing our reactions to go unfiltered, we wait on the Lord’s direction.

It sometimes takes more courage to be still and silent.

Jesus often retreated to pray to the Lord, and returned strengthened.

Isaiah wrote:

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

God is doing all of the work!

He is with us, and He is God!

He strengthens us and helps us. He holds us up in His victorious right hand. Christ Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, victorious over death.

He willingly sacrificed His life for us on the cross, rose three days later, and then ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.

It’s His sacrifice and His victory we draw strength from!

Moses told God’s people, and Joshua, before they entered the promised land:

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD you God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

God is doing all of the work!

He is with us, and He is God!

He strengthens us and helps us. He holds us up in His victorious right hand.

Christ Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, victorious over death.

He willingly sacrificed His life for us on the cross, rose three days later, and then ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.

It’s His sacrifice and His victory we draw strength from!

Moses told God’s people, and Joshua, before they entered the promised land:

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD you God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Quickest Way From Timidity to Courage to Attitude Adjustment

Hebrews 4:12Amplified Bible

¹²For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged ^[a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the ^[b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Have you ever found yourself in need of an attitude adjustment?

If so, be encouraged, as you’ve reached the most critical step in receiving one by acknowledging and recognizing, confessing and believing you are in need of it.

Realizing and recognizing there are wrong attitudes in your heart and mind is the breakthrough moment to a new attitude.

So many of us walk around, living day-to-day with no idea we might need some adjustments.

For sure, God is quick to recognize wrong attitudes in us, even if we think we’re covering them up with our words.

“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).

Although wrong attitudes are often easy for us to see in others, for some reason, they are usually very difficult to see in ourselves.

Because it is sometimes almost impossible to see wrong attitudes within us, what is the quickest way to an attitude adjustment?

As Hebrews 4:12 explains, when we commit to reading God’s Word, it has the power to cut through our soul and spirit and to judge our heart’s attitudes.

Nothing else in the world has the ability to do so like the living Word of God.

God’s Word Actively Exposes and Corrects Wrong Attitudes

God’s Word is so vital to our daily lives and the quickest way to recognize and reveal hidden mindsets, especially helpful in addressing and adjusting wrong and sinful attitudes.

Because it is alive and active, it doesn’t ever grow outdated or irrelevant to correct current incorrect thoughts and ways of thinking.

Before wrong attitudes can enter our hearts, God’s Word has the power to stop them before we accept them into our thinking.

As 2 Timothy 3:16 explains, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”

Three Ways God’s Word Adjusts Attitudes

As well, Proverbs 6:21,22 describes three ways it has the ability to help us live daily with the right attitude when we take the time to make it the top priority in our lives by reading, studying, and applying it to our lives.

”Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.”

1. God’s Word guides our attitudes.

His Living Word will not ask our permission to take the lead in our lives to help us guide our thoughts, Words, and actions each and every day to be aligned with His ways over worldly wisdom and philosophies.

As 2 Corinthians 10:5 explains, with God’s Living and Active Word,

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2. God’s Word protects our attitudes as we sleep.

Have you ever woken up in a bad mood, feeling disgruntled, upset, negative, and on edge, not knowing why?

Well, that isn’t just by accident.

The enemy of our souls works through the night to influence our thoughts and attitudes.

But as Christians, we don’t have to wake up with wrong thinking and mindsets because God says His words will protect and watch over us when we’re sleeping, guarding our hearts and minds against the onslaught of the enemy’s attacks.

His Word works as a shield against the enemy’s midnight assaults.

As Proverbs 30:5 assures, “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

3. God’s Word speaks to our attitudes during the day.

When we’re awake, God will personally speak to us through His Word.

Because it is alive and active, when we take the time to read it, study it and too, know it, God will speak to us through it at times when we need to hear His voice.

Although some think and believe God’s Word only speaks to us in a general way, truth and Holy Spirit reality reveals He speaks through it to our hearts, to our souls and minds in very personal deep, life-changing, transformational ways.

Intersecting Faith and Life:

How is your attitude today?

How is your attitude right exactly in this exacting moment?

Did you wake up in a bad mood?

Wake up on the Wrong side of the bed or the leftover grounds Coffee Pot?

Too many twists and turns and not enough “straight roads ahead?”

Everybody and their grandmother honking their horns behind a stalled car?

Most of us often don’t recognize wrong attitudes within ourselves, or even worse, until somebody else notices us, repeatedly, annoyingly starts tapping on our shoulder, or nudges their elbows in our ribcage and we justify having them.

If you and I are not sure how you and I are doing today, Pray to God to expose any wrong attitudes in your heart and correct wrong thinking with His Word.

A Hand holding a wrench to adjust the brain in an opened human head.
adjusting, fixing or changing, or creating a new ,better way of thinking.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord, today, in this moment I must confess that sometimes I choose to focus on the contraries and negatives, instead of focusing on what you’ve called me to focus on. Help me take the words of Philippians 4:8 to heart. Help me to find those Words of Scripture which in every moment of every day, will help me to narrow my focus onto whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable, so that my attitude may adjusted, fine tuned to reflect and honor you. As I practice shifting my perspective, keep my heart from growing cold or bitter. Teach me to remember that I am not a slave to my negative emotions. Because of your Holy Spirit, I can tell those emotions to be removed and turn my eyes to the things of you, instead. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Benefits and Value of God’s Wisdom. Proverbs Chapter 2

Proverbs 2:1-5 English Standard Version

The Value of Wisdom

2 My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
²making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
³yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
⁴if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Wisdom, Knowledge and Happiness

As a boy, Charles Dickens knew poverty from bitter experience.

He never forgot what he had learned.

Many of his novels deal with the huge gap between wealth and poverty.

Perhaps the most unforgettable is A Christmas Carol.

Its main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is a “grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner” who can squeeze blood out of a stone.

Bob Cratchit, his underpaid bookkeeper, shivers in his unheated corner of the office.

But Bob has learned to be content in his situation.

At the meager Cratchit-family Christmas dinner, Bob proposes a toast: “Merry Christmas to Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast!”

Mrs. Cratchit objects with the scornful words about Scrooge, but Bob, in all humility replies mildly, “My dear, it’s Christmas … and for the children!”

For all his poverty, Cratchit has wisdom and happiness.

But Scrooge, for all his wealth, has a bleak and miserable “business sense” life.

Here is something of the complexity and mystery about wealth and poverty.

Most people think and deeply believe that wealth brings happiness.

But that is not always so.

Happiness and contentment can exist in the midst of scarcity.

What’s more, the rich can be righteous, and they can be a blessing to the poor.

And just the opposite is equally true, the righteous poor can be a humble and humbled and humbling blessing to the rich – all one needs is a bit more wisdom.

Knowledge of God, Understanding of God through study of His Word, Faith in God, Wisdom from God and living by his love are the keys to finding happiness.

The “Keys” to “Finding” Happiness

Have you ever had someone try to sell you something? What’s the typical pattern a salesperson uses? First, they tell you all the amazing benefits of their service or product. “Our miracle product…

…will lower cholesterol…”
…will help you burn fat and lose weight…”
…will keep your information safe and secure…”
…will give you better gas mileage…”
…will make you happy and content…”

And then once you’re convinced they show you the price tag…

“For only four payments of $999.99…”
“If you only eat Subway for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day…”
“If you sign up for our monthly never-ending subscription-based service…”
“Your monthly car payment can be as low as…”
“If you sign your life and soul over we will…”

The typical pattern is—here’s the benefits and then here’s how you get them.

Today, I want to reverse that pattern.

First, I want to tell you how to get wisdom, then I want to tell you its benefits.

This is the pattern our passage takes and I like it because when I finally tell you the benefits of wisdom you’ll be able to weigh in your own mind if it’s worth it.

So first…

How to get Wisdom

Wisdom is “skill for living”, but living God’s way instead of our own way.

Once again the father-figure in Proverbs is teaching his son (who we can all put ourselves in the place of) how to get wisdom.

He tells him four ways to get wisdom (not four different ways).

You should do them all if you want to get wisdom.

Proverbs 2:1-5New International Version

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

2 My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
²turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
³indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

The first way to get wisdom we find in verse one.

1. BELIEF IN GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)

The father-figure says, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you…”

The author Solomon is talking about a father’s words found in the book of Proverbs, but he’s also talking about God’s whole Word, the Hebrew Scriptures.

The word for commands (mitzvah) can also mean the laws God gave his people Israel (Genesis 26:5; Exodus 26:28).

So it’s like Solomon or the father-figure is saying, “My son, if you want wisdom, believe in God’s Word.”

Each one of us comes to a turning point in our lives where we have to decide the final rule for our lives.

Is it going to be God’s unchanging perfect words and commands that although they are hard we know they are good, true, and best?

Or are we going to choose our own feelings and intuitions and desires and what the world says is best?

God’s Word offers us a firm-foundation for our lives, a foundation that won’t let us down.

But if we choose anything else we’re choosing something that might say one thing today and a different thing tomorrow.

Eggs are good for you. Eggs are bad for you.

Drink coffee. Coffee is bad for you.

Drink more milk. Drink soy milk. Drink almond milk.

Turn right when we should have turned left or stayed straight and narrow.

Stay with Gasoline Vehicles or “Go Green” with Hybrids and Electric cars.

This career path or that career path

How about with what we understand to be the “serious things” of our lives?

Changing and Shifting winds, sands, and crashing waves “defining” what our “correct” Morals and Ethics are “supposed to be” according to the wisest of the most educated, connected, influential, powerful, wealthy “people” on internet.

How many issues can you think or heard of where 10-20 years ago everyone said one things was seriously averse, now today people say just the opposite?

That is generational shifting sands, that’s stormy waters (James 1:5-8).

How about those who “stay the course on the narrow road” and stay steadfast:

“I only want to build my life on the rock of God’s Word that never changes!”

Resolving the Ceaseless Conflict between belief and unbelief in Christ the Lord.

Does knowledge and understanding the Word of God for His Children and the outpouring of the anointing oils its blessed wisdom still have any relevance?

First, we get wisdom by believing in God’s Word.

2. MEMORIZATION OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)

We’re still in verse one. What does it mean to “store up” something?

Did any of you prepare for the Y2K bug?

So kids, a long time ago everyone was worried that when the clocks on our computers turned from December 31st 1999 to January 1st 2000 there was going to be a computer meltdown that would cause world food shortages and financial errors—basically, the apocalypse to end all apocalypses.

So prepare people stored up canned food, powdered food, dried food, and water and drinks that would not go bad.

Our single person household bought whole shelves of Kool-Aid powdered drink.

So by golly if the world failed I am still going to have a storehouse of Kool-Aid.

And when Y2K came and no one but Blockbuster video had problems I still had my Kool-Aid powdered drink, for a while it tasted good, then I got tired of it all.

Wisdom ended up throwing most of it out, to this day wisdom will not drink it.

I “stored up” for the long term to avert disaster.

But so much of what I had stored up for the long term spoiled, went to waste.

Likewise, God calls us to “store up” his Word within us to avert disaster in our lives.

How do we do that?

By memorizing themes and passages weaved in and throughout the Bible.

I want to encourage everyone to “store up” God’s Word in our own hearts because God uses it to strengthen us, give us hope, and teach us how to live.

Outline, underline, color mark foundational verses from the bible – what text speaks to your heart and to your soul and to your life at the moment you read it.

Put it on your mirror or fold it over in your Bible, somewhere you will see it and memorize it.

Read, study, pray and memorize other verses too, one’s that will remind you of the never ending relevance, significance of hope and God’s love and promises.

Second, we get wisdom by memorizing God’s Word.

3. ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 2)

Proverbs 2:2 says to turn our ears to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding.

Do you ever get in a disagreement and the person you are fighting with says, “You’re not listening to me!”

Sometimes that’s true.

One person is not paying attention because they’re too busy talking or thinking.

But usually that means “You’re not agreeing with me.”

Proverbs 2:2 is saying to get wisdom we need to hear it with our ears and accept it with our hearts and agree to it with our lives.

We need to open ourselves up and let God’s Words and ways sink deep into who we are.

In Hebrew culture the heart was the core of a person, their true identity.

We do not want God’s Word to go in one ear and out the other, but go in through the ear, through the mind, and down deep into our heart.

When I prepare devotionals that’s one of the things I think about.

I want God’s Word to affect me first but then I want it to affect you all too.

We don’t want to just sit here and hear without listing or agreeing.

The absolute significance of God’s Word and truth is too eternally important.

Third, we get wisdom by accepting God’s Word.

4. ASK GOD FOR IT THROUGH PRAYER (VERSES 3 AND 4)

This is perhaps the simplest way to get wisdom, ask God for it.

Verse 3 tells us to “call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding” (NIV).

If you and I want wisdom, pray that God will give us some.

Sometimes prayer is the only step we take.

We ask God for wisdom but we don’t try to memorize and understand his Word.

Prayer goes hand and hand with God’s Word.

It’s like peanut butter and jelly or eggs and bacon or it is like fish and chips.

God’s Word and prayer together make a delicious wisdom platter.

If you and I want wisdom, we have to ask God for it. (1 Kings 3:5-15)

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (NIV)

One of the points Spurgeon makes is that wisdom isn’t just knowing how to “be wise ‘enough’ to make the ‘right decisions’,” but wisdom is a character quality molded, shaped, then reshaped by “interpreting” our experiences.

When you and I pray for wisdom it’s not only that we would make the right choice (it is that) but it’s also praying that God would make us into the kind of people who would make the right choice.

It’s praying God would mold, shape, develop and transform our moral and our ethical character so we choose to do we do it with integrity and discernment.

So how do we get wisdom?

First, by believing in God’s Word.

Second, by studying and memorizing God’s Word.

Third, by accepting God’s Word,

and fourth, by asking God for wisdom through prayer.

Now I’ve told you how to get wisdom, but what are the benefits of wisdom?

What makes it worth doing all those things?

What makes it worth signing up for and sitting inside a classroom for?

The Benefits and Value of Wisdom

The point of these things is not just to do them for the sake of doing them, but for the sake of something greater.

Did you ever watch those old Mastercard commercials?

A man and woman walk into a gas station.

As the gas station attendant rings up their purchases he says:

chips: $3
frozen beverage: $2
gas: $31
starting a new life together: priceless…

But then the woman shakes her head “no” so the gas station attendant tries again.

rekindling a fire that never went out? (she shakes her head again)
satisfying a much-needed slushy fix?… Priceless.

So what’s the priceless things we are seeking by pursuing wisdom?

God himself.

Proverbs 2:5-6New International Version

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
⁶For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Verse 5 says if we seek wisdom, “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”

The fear of the Lord is believing that God’s “threats are real and his promises are true”.

Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave shows us that God’s threats are real—that if we don’t deal with our sins he will put us to death—but his promises are real—that if we put our faith and trust in him he will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It’s as we come to understand who God is through Christ Jesus that we begin to actually know God.

Do you want to know about God or know God?

You might know a lot of things about your favorite celebrity or professional sports athlete, you might know what movies they’re in or their batting average, but that doesn’t mean you know them.

There’s a simple test for if you know them.

Do they know you?

If I were to walk up to Tom Cruise or Tom Brady and if I were to name drop your name what would they say?

“Oh yeah. I know him!” Or more likely … “I am sorry, Who?”

Come with me one step further.

If I were to walk up to God and to name drop your name what would he say?

“Oh yes, I know him/her. I love him/her very much … Or “I am sorry, Who?”

We seek wisdom because we’re seeking God.

We want to know him.

But the next verse tells us this is only possible by God’s grace.

Proverbs 2:6
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (NIV)

We can only know God if we want to acknowledge God, to know us.

We can only acquire wisdom if God wants to give it to us.

It’s both an “as we seek” and an “as he gives” kind of exchange.

We seek to obey and know God and God gives us a relationship with him.

Or put it in the reverse.

God gives us a relationship with him and so we obey and know God.

What’s the priceless benefit of wisdom? Knowing God himself.

The benefits just keep growing out of this.

If you know God you are part of the family and God protects you.

Proverbs 2:7-8New International Version

⁷He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
⁸for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Benefit and Value of God’s Protection (Verses 7-19)

Proverbs 2:7-19 New International Version

⁷He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
⁸for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

⁹Then you will understand what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.

¹²Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse,
¹³who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,
¹⁴who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵whose paths are crooked
    and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
¹⁷who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.^[a]
¹⁸Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
¹⁹None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.

God’s wisdom grants us protection from potential disasters.

I don’t mean natural disasters but rather God’s wisdom protect us from ourselves, from bad things we might do.

God’s wisdom protects us from:

Committing injustice (v9-11) – Sinning against others by treating them unfairly. If God gives us his wisdom we will want to treat others with fairness and equity even at cost to ourselves.
Wicked men (or women) who love sin (v12-15) – “those who take advantage of others for their own gain.” As God grants us wisdom and character like His we won’t be drawn to them but will learn how to recognize them for who they are.
Unfaithful women (or men) who break their marriage promise (v16-19) – Verse 16 says that “Wisdom will save you […] from the wayward woman with her seductive words.” (NIV) Sometimes beauty might cause a break in marriage vows but often it is words, words of affirmation and acceptance. It’s a listening ear. Emotional adultery comes before acting it out. God gives us wisdom so we know how to stay away from relationships that lead to this kind of disaster.

But there’s one more benefit to wisdom.

A FOREVER HOME WITH GOD (VERSES 20 to 22)

Proverbs 2:20-22New International Version

²⁰Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹For the upright will live in the land,
    and the blameless will remain in it;
²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Proverbs 2:21 says, “For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;” (NIV)

It’s an interesting way to close this passage in Proverbs because it’s a reminder to the Israelite people that they get to stay in the promised land if they obey God and keep his commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).

But where’s the promise for us?

The benefits of wisdom are knowing God, protection from mistakes in this life, and an eternal home with God in the life to come.

Hebrews says that the heroes of our faith “were longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).

If that’s you, if you are the one longing for a better home, then pursue wisdom.

Seek God by believing his Word, memorizing it, accepting it, and prayer.

John 14:5-14New International Version

Jesus the Way to the Father

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you really know me, you will know^[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Wisdom is a gift, but it’s a gift we help work for.

Knowing God is a gift!

Spending eternity with him is a gift!

His protection is a gift!

But they are gifts we have to choose to seek by choosing to seek His wisdom.

John 14:1-3New International Version

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God^[a]; believe also in me. ²My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Let our hearts not be troubled.

Believe in God!

Believe in His Resurrected Son, Jesus!

Believe in God’s Holy Spirit!

Let our Hearts Seek His wisdom and we WILL find our forever home with God!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Holy God, Word made flesh,
let us come to this word open to being surprised.
Silence our agendas; banish our assumptions; cast out our casual detachment.
Confound our expectations; clear the cobwebs from our ears;
penetrate the corners of our hearts with this word.
We know that you can, we pray that you will,
and we wait with great anticipation. Amen.

Empty us, Great God, of all that prevents us
from hearing what you want us to hear.
Empty us of our preconceptions,
our preoccupations and our prejudices.
Empty us that we might be filled
with your Spirit and your Word.
Empty us that we might be filled for ministry and mission.
In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Calm us now, O Lord, into a quietness that heals and listens.
Open wounded hearts to the balm of your Word.
Speak to us in clear tones so that we might feel our spirits leap for joy
and skip with a living hope as your resurrection witnesses. Amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Prerequisites for Purposeful Living: “Give Ear and Hear My voice, Listen and Hear My Speech.” Proverbs 2:1-5

Proverbs 2:1-5 The Message

Make Insight Your Priority

2 ^1-5Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
    collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
    set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
    and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
    you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

On a brochure I saw in the Narthex of a new church I read these words in red:

“If I am really a Christian … then why isn’t Jesus Christ more real in my life?”

It made for rather interesting reading considering the church was a new plant and had only opened its doors to the community a scant ninety days before.

It was actually quite thought provoking – even more so than I first expected.

If you have ever wondered about that, “why isn’t Jesus more real to me,” you should know that you are not the first and you will not be the last one either.

Even writers of the Bible, especially the psalmists, wrestled with this question.

Even the Book of Proverbs offers its readers many intriguing statements which even today have turned into contemporary Parent to Children admonishments.

1. Many hands make light work

When many people work together to accomplish a difficult task, it doesn’t seem so difficult. That is the general meaning of this proverb. In other words, if many people work together, the work is easier and is usually completed more quickly.

2. Honesty is the best policy

It is best to always be honest and tell the truth, even when telling the truth hurts you. By doing so, humbling self will win the trust and respect of others.

3. Don’t judge a book by its cover

Don’t be too quick to form an opinion or make a judgment about someone or something based on its outward appearance – you could embarrass yourself.

4. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way

If your desire to accomplish something is strong enough, you will find a way to do it.

5. Actions speak louder than words

A person’s true character can be seen by what he does, not by what he says. A person can talk as much as he wants, but he may not actually do anything to back up his words. All the bluster and bravado of leadership loses its luster if the one doing all of the bragging inevitably does nothing, retreats from their words.

6. Always put your best foot forward

The meaning of this proverb is that you should always try your best to make a good first impression on others; reveal and show your best traits and qualities.

7. Do not be wise in thine own eyes

The meaning of this proverb is very clear: the consistent witness of Scripture is that Jehovah God and God alone is the One, only true source of wisdom and life.

If we are faith-filled and faithful in following Him, He will “abundantly” bless us; if not, in our own self righteousness, we risk significant peril and judgment.

One of the most dangerous traps we can fall prey to is justifying ourselves based on our own self reported, ideals, definitions and understandings of judgment.

When we assume that we are more in the right than not and others are more in the wrong than not, including “God is more wrong,” it is a recipe for disaster.

When we automatically assume we are smarter than others, then find out we are not … much to our detriment and personal embarrassment – “eating crow.”

When we try to assume that our understanding of smart is the same as God’s and we come up square against the mirrors of our wildest display of ignorance.

The Book of Proverbs puts our perspective of our lives directly in God’s face, the end result is we invariably learn we are neither smarter nor wiser than anyone.

God desires we understand balancing our life, morals and ethics with His Ways.

We desire and boast of our own abilities, about how we ourselves balance our own lives with our own understanding of own morals and ethics absent God.

There are many reasons, of course, why people might sometimes feel that way.

I will let each reader draw from their own experiences for their own rationales.

Wisdom of Self Reliance versus Wisdom of Reliance on God and God alone?

One place to start in reflecting on this is to recognize that God highly desires and also highly values an ever growing spiritual depth, maturity in his people.

Not necessarily intellectual depth or all kinds of biblical knowledge —though these things are good—but connectional depth in relationship with God, as opposed to the shallowness, superficiality of human to human relationships.

“That we may know HIM more, that we may know OUR selves less.” (John 3:30)

Proverbs 2:1-5 talks about accepting and storing up and turning our ear and soul and applying our heart and calling out for insight and crying aloud for greater and greater understanding of God and looking and searching for God.

It uses action words like these; applying, calling, crying, looking, searching for, to describe what we should be actively engaging in our daily pursuit of wisdom.

Bottom line?

If we want to have it,

If we have to want it,

We have to be willing to engage in a process which involves actual action.

We have to be fully committed to the pursuit, wantonly going after wisdom.

It will take an enormous amount of work, and it will take your whole heart.

Most things, which nowadays, humanity is quite more reluctant to engage in.

But, without that, God, Jesus and Holy Spirit—and wisdom—won’t seem real.

With my eyes being widened from their slumber ….

With a constant sensation of a “tap tap tap” upon my shoulders ….

With someone or something putting their “elbows” into my side ….

With my interest being peaked ….

With my soul being quickened by something or someone ….

It makes me want to dig a little deeper, again.

It makes me want to listen more to what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to me.

“Where is Jehovah God nudging me towards … what future with what hope?”

What if we really listen and hear what God really says in Proverbs?

Proverbs 2:1-5 Amplified Bible

The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

2 My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
²
So that your ear is attentive to [skillful and godly] wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding [seeking it conscientiously and striving for it eagerly];
³
Yes, if you cry out for insight,
And lift up your voice for understanding;
⁴
If you seek skillful and godly wisdom as you would silver
And search for her as you would hidden treasures;
⁵
Then you will understand the [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome]
And discover the knowledge of God.

Have you ever thought about the difference between hearing and listening?

Did you know there was a real difference?

To “listen” means that we are paying attention to the sound, thoughtful and considerate attention to the sound.

To “hear” refers to perceiving something with our ears, kind of like seeing with our ears.

In the long and winding concourse of living and loving life today there are quite literally hundreds of diverse noises a day which are competing for our attention.

There are so many different noises and sounds that most of us do not pay very much attention to most of them – we shut them out as “background noises.”

The television can be on, the phone ringing, video games blasting, radios in our ears and everyone in my house talking at once and I can still tune most of it out.

It is not I am not hearing all the cacophony of noise, but I am not listening to it.

But all of that discipline of “tuning out,” and “not listening” carries a big risk.

What else am I “tuning out,” or “not hearing” or “listening to?”

Psalm 19:1-3 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.
²
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
³
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.

My Mom used to tell me when everything seemed to be going backwards;

“Look unto the sun by day and the stars by night and know it will be alright!”

God gave us eyes to see the sunshine, beauty and grandeur of nature around us.

God gave us a curiosity that when we see the stars at night – we have to know just how many of them we can count – so we lie back on the ground and count.

God also gave each and everyone of us two ears to hear the beauty of sound and one mouth, He gave us the ability to listen so that the sound can be understood.

When both hearing and listening and minimal speaking working together in unison, we have a quiet, quieted, understanding of the purpose of the sound.

You can hear music and feel music but not actually listen to the words.

When both music and lyrics are understood, the beauty and meaning of the whole song is revealed to you.

You can hear the words of a person speaking to you, but if you truly listen to the person, you will better understand their heart, the meaning behind their words.

The same principle holds true with God’s Word.

We can hear the Word preached, taught and read.

We can read the Word ourselves and hear our own voices speak it.

But, when we really listen to God’s Word, then our understanding begins to change.

So many times, people leave church after having heard a sermon and not ever remember anything about it.

When we look up to the heavens, we may only hear the sound of the winds rushing through the trees, crickets or the frogs in the pond, birds in the air.

We cannot see the winds nor the crickets nor the frogs nor the birds in the air.

We know they are there because we can hear the sounds of the winds through the leaves, from rubbing of the crickets legs, frogs croaking and birds singing

When we are listening and giving consideration to what we are hearing, we will leave thinking about what we just heard.

The next step is to start talking back to God, asking Him to open up more of our hearts and souls to understanding what is being communicated from all sides.

Take time today, think about how much you hear versus how much you listen.

How much are you missing of what God has for you?

Is He talking to you but you are not paying attention?

Take your Bible, dust off its cover and read today’s text from Proverbs 2:1-5.

Instead of just reading the words and hearing them in our heads, pray the Holy Spirit will give us the power to listen, to understand the message God has for us.

When the Word of God truly becomes His voice in our life, then our hearing and our listening will open up our souls unto a new world of understanding for us.

Our lives are guaranteed to change.

But it all begins with God’s wisdom which comes from understanding the difference between hearing and listening—so, start listening to God today.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Jehovah God, Lord of wisdom, Author of my life, there are so any truths to sort out, so many ways of understanding what my eyes behold and what my ears hear, I cannot listen to it all for it is just too overwhelming. Being overwhelmed, I am sometimes finding understanding the wisdom of Bible to be difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me to grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your wise advice. Amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“My Dear God, Great Instructor of My Life, My God, Teach Me Your Lessons for Living, So I Stay on the Right Course!” Psalm 119:33-40

Psalm 119:33-40The Message

^33-40God, teach me lessons for living
    so I can stay the course.
Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
    my whole life one long, obedient response.
Guide me down the road of your commandments;
    I love traveling this freeway!
Give me an appetite for your words of wisdom,
    and not for piling up loot.
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
    invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
Affirm your promises to me—
    promises made to all who fear you.
Deflect the harsh words of my critics—
    but what you say is always so good.
See how hungry I am for your counsel;
    preserve my life through your righteous ways!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

At whatever level of education, there is something truly special about learning from a master teacher: a confident, renowned expert in his or her chosen field.

Many graduate students select their universities based on the opportunity to work with esteemed professors in their desired specialties.

But have you considered that as Christians, at whatever measure of faith we have the singularly unique opportunity and the privilege to learn “life” daily from our Master Teacher, as His Spirit works in our hearts through His word?

His experience of navigating life in all of its facets, is infinitely extensive.

His preparation for navigating life, more thorough than anyone can imagine.

His instruction is comprehensive, and He promises to do the teaching Himself, with His Holy Scriptures as our “textbook” guide.

And even better, He does so as a master instructor who is also a Father, taking a deeply personal, deeply intimate interest in the welfare of each of His children.

God’s instruction for life is vital.

It is vital for beginners in the Christian life.

We begin our journey of Christianity as infants on our knees, unaware of God’s ways, truths and dealings and consequently unaware of truths about ourselves.

But when we are born into life with God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, we become new creations in Him, we cease to take pride in our own opinions, live for ourselves, or to regard Christ from any worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:12-17).

Our anointing into His life, the outpouring of His oils upon who we are and who we will become begins, at first drop by ever precious drop, then like a wide river.

As we raise in our faith experiences, understanding truth, from knees to feet, we become ready to hear what God says instead of telling Him what we think.

By grace, we learn to see, learn to live life clearly, through God’s perspective.

God’s instruction is also vital for those who are confused or uncertain.

The Bible tells us we are wayward and foolish, ignorant and arrogant people.

When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he sternly warned that among his congregations there would always be those “led astray by various passions, always learning and never quite able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:6-7).

Only through the continuous ministry the Holy Spirit is it possible for us to spiritually mature instead of drifting like children from one idea to another.

His instruction is also vital for the careless and the forgetful—and however long we may have been Christians, we get careless and are easily forgetful!

That’s why the Word of God for His Children tells, teaches us, again and again to remember. Paul urged Timothy to “remember Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:8).

The man, Rabbi Jesus urged His disciples to “remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32), who looked and turned back.

The Teacher, in the wise and ancient words from Ecclesiastes calls out to us, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Indeed, the ministry of teaching and preaching is essentially a ministry of reminders—and so are our own personal daily personal devotional times.

Charles Spurgeon once said,

“He who has made you his child, He will put you to school, and He will teach you until you shall know the Lord Jesus alone as the way, the truth, the life.”

When we ourselves, enter into our own private “prayer closets,” alone with our God, as we attentively sit at our desks, in “His Classroom,” as we read with Him or listen with Him, to Bible teaching, we are all participating in a divine, sacred time of invaluable dialogue and begin to experience deep-seated heart change.

Somewhere in our core, we know holy instruction is taking place—we are being instructed by the very one who inspired the book whose pages we are studying.

Reality; Living Life on our own terms, we are so helpless apart from the Lord.

Like the Psalmist in Psalm 119 Vs 33-40, it is so very important that we all learn to ask and depend upon God to teach us His decrees and then to follow them.

How can we come to an understanding of “living life” absent of God’s Word?

Again, we must ceaselessly ask Him to help us to understand and obey His law.

Sadly, I think many Christians are weak because they depend upon themselves; they believe they have the onerous ability in themselves to be obedient to God.

Reality is, we are each creatures of this world, creatures of sin, and as such are greatly influenced by those all around us to redefine what it means to do good.

However, only our master Teacher God, through the life, death, resurrection of His Son can show us the truth of His Word and then give us the ability to obey it.

Continually ask Him, plead with Him, to help you humble yourself before Him.

As a Christian, He is your only Lord and Savior, He alone can turn your eyes away from worthless things and preserve your life according to His Word.

What then are the results for the Christian who turns to God for help?

He gives us Kairos, the grace, to be obedient to Him and takes away disgrace.

Not the disgrace of the world, but disgrace before God which comes from deep within the deepest recesses of our disobedient hearts and unrepentant lives.

Then, like the Psalmist we will long for God’s precepts to turn the upside down to the right side up, we will find our lives preserved inside His righteousness.

Do you and I understand that?

Do you and I seriously desire or want to understand that?

Do we severely desire or want to come to even a minimal understanding?

On the surface …. probably …. even most definitely, more decisively NOT!

Deeper down though, where only God can reach us through His Word (Hebrews 4:12), though if we were to actually look eye to eye, face to face, at the deepest desires, needs, desperate wants of our souls, I am of the opinion, our soul wins!

I don’t always try to understand the Words of my Teacher as much as I ought to.

I wonder when I fail in learning His lessons, Why does He even bother with us?

But, praise God, He does –

John 3:16-18 The Message

^16-18“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

He grants us the true joy in life which can only come from an obedient heart.

Pray, like the Psalmist in Psalm 119 Vs 33-40, God will give you understanding, teachable hearts, then direct you on the path of obedience to Him, to His laws.

This is what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit enables all His servants to do.

What an opportunity, and privilege, it is to open His word, anticipate the work of His Spirit, and pray, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes”! (verse 33)

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Almighty God, in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of your Word; and give us grace that we may clearly understand and freely choose the way of your wisdom. God, source of all light and truth, by your Living and Active Word you give light and life to the soul. Pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that our hearts and minds may be opened. Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence in us any voices but your own, so we may hear your Word and also do it; through Christ our Lord. Amen

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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God Anoints Our Heads With Oil, Our Cups Overflow: Our ‘Prayer Over Our Cups’, Our Understanding of the Oils: Its The Word of God. Psalm 119:33-40

Psalm 119:33-40Amplified Bible

He.

³³
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I will [steadfastly] observe it to the end.
³⁴
Give me understanding [a teachable heart and the ability to learn], that I may keep Your law;
And observe it with all my heart.
³⁵
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
³⁶
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain and envy.
³⁷
Turn my eyes away from vanity [all those worldly, meaningless things that distract—let Your priorities be mine],
And restore me [with renewed energy] in Your ways.
³⁸
Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant,
As that which produces [awe-inspired] reverence for You.
³⁹
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your ordinances are good.
⁴⁰
I long for Your precepts;
Renew me through Your righteousness.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

The Word of God gives us many insights into the real value of things.

In our reading for today, the psalm writer prays,

“God, Teach Me, Give Me Understanding, Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes [soul] away from worthless things.”

All our earthly possessions will prove 100% worthless on the judgment day.

In contrast, the Word of God gives us the good news, the knowledge of complete forgiveness of sin, of God’s unconditional love and of guaranteed eternal life.

What can be more valuable than that?

Perhaps, a better understanding of God’s perspective through a writers “eyes?”

We need to be continually reminded to envision value from God’s perspective, because worshiping wealth remains a powerful attraction.

Jesus himself warned us, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24), instead, trying to teach us His value to “store up treasures in heaven.”

Using a much familiar and much beloved verse from Psalm 23 ….

Let us try to reach into God’s perspective through David’s eyes and experiences.

Let’s start by inviting God’s Holy Spirit into our minds to recall this promise:

“God Anoints Our Heads With Oil and Our Cups Runneth Over.” Psalm 23:5b

What incredibly deep imagery we are presented with by these poetic words.

But, what of our own understanding the words, their historical context, their connections from their writing, some three thousand years ago unto now?

Breaking down the ancient experiences, those ancient thoughts that ……

We are someway connected to its human writer, David, King and Shepherd?

Examining the Words and the Imagery, what David had envisioned of God?

“POURING OUT” OURSELVES INTO PSALM 23’S IMAGERY

God ceaselessly, continually pours the Oils of His Blessings upon our heads.

So much so that our Cups (How big and how deep are they anyway?) overflow.

They “overflow” and they “saturate” every part of our inner and outer bodies.

No parts of our hearts or our souls or our minds are left untouched by the oils.

No parts of our hearts or our souls or our minds are left uninfluenced by them.

Allowed to touch us, with our knowledge or without our knowledge, with our permission or without our permission, in clothes, in nakedness, we are touched.

Without exception, this anointing of “oils” reaches into every part of our lives.

This anointing of “oils” is the outpouring of the precepts of the Word of God by God’s Holy Spirit upon the welcoming, unwelcoming, repentant, unrepentant.

In more ways we can count or even allow ourselves to imagine, the “oils” are touching each and everyone of us right in this exact, exacting “God” moment.

A drop here, a drop there …. like an invisible eye dropper held over our heads being slowly and steadily squeezed out or just like standing in a rain storm.

We feel the “drops” or we don’t feel the “drops” – but they are definitely there.

They are absolutely unavoidable, no one can dodge them ….

We “feel” them and we can try to learn and understand them and their purpose.

We are touched by the “oils,” our souls will be unavoidably influenced by them.

Slowly, imperceptibly, subtly, drop by drop, until they become, by the hand of God, a steady flow, then an outpouring and then a flood, then an immersion.

In anticipation of joy or in anger, head scratching certainty or uncertainty, we start to acknowledge the flow, the goodness of it or the convictions behind it.

Our awareness of the “oils of anointing” presence, is kindled like a newly struck match with its inevitable flames, its light and its heat starting to become visible.

God’s “oils of anointing ,” outpouring and spreading, covering, saturating, immersing, overflowing : our knowledge, understanding of the Word of God!

Obediently, we stand in our places, feeling the outpouring, living inside its flow.

Life begins to subtly, perhaps suddenly begins to change ….

Thoughts and perceptions of events subtly, perhaps suddenly, begins to change.

We are either sure we like it or we will surely fight mightily against liking it.

With mounting Certainty or growing and maturing Uncertainty, we stand there.

We may try to run and hide to the furthest remotest places on earth from it.

But we can’t escape its influence upon everything our “life has been all about.”

We get tired so we stop running – and in whatever emotion we are then feeling;

How can we not eventually, subtly, suddenly, inevitably, not respond by praying

“Okay, something or someone has my undivided attention ….”

“No More Running ….”

“No More Hiding ….”

“One way or the Other …. “

“As the Deer Pants for the Waters ….”

“as My ^[a]soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for ???, as my flesh longs and [my soul] now sighs for [answers] In a dry, weary land where there is no water ….”

Psalm 119:33-40The Message

And now, perhaps begins the gradual ascent, by our humbled descent, into what David the Psalmist wrote, an appreciation of, greatest desire for understanding;

Psalm 23Amplified Bible

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me],
I shall not want.
²
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still and quiet waters.
³
He refreshes and restores my soul (life);
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.

⁴
Even though I walk through the [sunless] ^[a]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me.
⁵
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You have anointed and refreshed my head with ^[b]oil;
My cup overflows.
⁶
Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

A Well Considered Word About the Value of God’s Perspective

Isaiah 55:8-11Amplified Bible

⁸
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
¹⁰
“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth,
Making it bear and sprout,
And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will not return to Me void (useless, without result),
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

When we do not think like God, we are not in His image.

We cannot say as Jesus did,

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

God, in His wisdom, has willed we grow in His image through exercising faith in what He says, buttressed by what He reveals of Himself through His creation.

The fundamental difference between the person of faith and the unbeliever is revealed by the way they judge things.

The unbeliever, of the world, judges things by worldly standards, by his senses, and by looking at his watch, his smartphone screen and by his calendar time.

The person learning to think like God brings God into everything, viewing things from His perspective, by His values.

He ascertains how the activity, event, or thing looks in terms of eternity.

He seriously meditates on God’s sovereignty over all things.

At times, doing this puts the screws to his trust because the Bible says God’s judgments are “unsearchable . . . and his ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33).

Faith holds a person steady.

Because we often do not think like Him, and because we do not have His perfect perspective, we often do not know nor fully understand, what it is God doing.

Only in hindsight do we understand what is occurring in our personal life, to the church, or in the world in the outworking of prophecy.

So we must trust Him, and in the meantime weigh His perspective against what we “perceive” is happening and what we understand is its “possible” outcome.

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

His word shall not fail you he promised
Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace Helen Howarth Lemmel (1922)

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Holy and gracious God, you are the greatest and wisest of all. You are full of wonders and ways that no mere human can ever fully comprehend. Lord, I seek to understand you and your ways better so that I can more rightly live my life according to your commandments. I pray for your divine illumination in my heart and mind. Help me see what you intend for me to see. Help me understand what you intend for me to understand. Open my eyes and my ears to see you and hear your whispers. Amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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What if we are Contemplating Falling Out of Love with God? We Desire No time alone with God? Our Preference? We will devote No more time for God. Psalm 13

Psalm 13 The Message

13 ^1-2Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

^3-4Take a good look at me, God, my God;
I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
or laugh when I fall on my face.

^5-6I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
I’m so full of answered prayers.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

David the psalmist had feelings of God-forgottenness.

He had a multitude of times of being surrounding by enemies.

This was no brief time, these were extended periods of time – weeks, months and perhaps even a short number of years.

He wrote of the consistent continuous feeling of aloneness one can feel when it seems God has turned His face away and the enemy is forever at the gate of life.

Does it seem as if right now that David’s thoughts are now seeping into your soul becoming your thoughts, leaking like a sieve, from a heart which is fast becoming a stranger to the feelings of love, to the desire for feeling any love?

What if we and our heart and our soul are at the point where we are simply tired of believing and hearing from men, “the Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need.”

We are at or nearing the “breaking point” where those encouraging words “God is Love” is very fast becoming utter nonsense, wildly clashing cymbals, gongs.

We will hear no more of “God’s Love” – “do not dare to step on my last nerve!”

Do we dare to believe that our current measure of our alleged forever “unfailing love” for the Lord our God can even .01% fail and falter under the worst of tests?

Do we dare to believe such a notion our “unfailing faith, steadfast hope and our immovable love for God are miles and miles from the very precipice of failure?

Do we dare to allow ourselves to believe we are so iron clad strong in ourselves?

Do we dare to allow ourselves to believe that any failure of our faith, any failure of our hope in our future, any failure of our Love for God is 100% inconceivable?

If David had dared to have those thoughts, failure was inconceivable, that he should throw God out of his life we would not now have the words of Psalm 23.

What of our fleeting thoughts, feelings about God’s 100% Love?

Dare we to ask ourselves, our “Sermon in Shoes” Christianity, the question:

ARE WE FALLING OUT OF LOVE WITH GOD, OUR SAVIOR JESUS?

Never say Never …. We are not God, our Savior Jesus or the Holy Spirit!

Failure is always a meal that has been prepared for our feasting on our tables!

Failure is always waiting to be served, to be placed in some corner of our plate.

We can in no way escape failure …. it will forever be before us.

Despite the unceasing fervency of our prayers ….

God will not remove failure from our DNA!

Jesus, the Logos, will not remove the word failure from the Holy Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit will not remove our self will nor keep us from failure, failing.

Failure is always an option – it is absolutely inescapable!

But then again, even though we may have lost or given up “that loving feeling,” our God who is love, has not lost or minimally given up on that “loving feeling.”

God is still speaking directly to us even though we refuse to listen any longer.

The face of God is still facing us, the Words of God still mouthing these words as if we are always directly looking at each other – face to face and eye to eye:

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 The Message

The Way of (GOD’S) Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

²If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

I have been a Christian for a long time – just over 21 years.

The weirdest thing to me about being a Christian is how often I will forget the miracle of God’s love.

I forget the power of it.

I will take it for granted at every opportunity I get.

I forget how wonderful it is that a holy God should pursue me.

It stops being such a big deal.

It stops feeling so amazing.

I fall out of love with him a bit.

For a long time, whenever I’d hear the phrase “God loves us,” I pictured a kind, doting, grandpa.

But you know what?

Grandpa love is not the kind of love you get with God.

God is a lot more like a spouse.

God’s Love for me is Sometimes Uncomfortable

God pursues us with this wonderful, miraculous love.

Then He moves in, begins turning everything upside-down and inside out.

He wants us to share everything with him.

He wants us to talk to him.

He wants us to consult him about all our decisions.

He’s always there, aware of everything.

And he wants us to give him our all.

That kind of love love – true love – isn’t all that comfortable.

It doesn’t always feel miraculous.

It doesn’t always feel easy or cozy or even based in reality.

In fact, the love of God doesn’t feel all that miraculous when I am busy living in my faults, failures and failings, because God is busy rearranging my entire life.

Even when the Prodigal Son angrily left the home of his Father, Love remained in the home, love waited for the Prodigal to return, love waited to welcome him.

Do We Get too Used to God’s Love?

God’s love isn’t very comfortable, but even so, over time we get used to it.

That happens sometimes with love.

I was single for so long; at first, then met my wife, and the sudden, subtle prospect of one day, every day of being with my wife felt like a great gift.

Fast-forward a 12 1/2 years and I’ve gotten used to her.

She’s always around.

I can hardly remember what it felt like to be single.

I hardly want to remember what it felt like to be dedicated to my singleness.

This happens with God’s love too — especially for those of us who grew up in the church.

We can hardly remember a time when we didn’t know God’s love.

We get used to it.

We might even get “too” used to it.

We start to take Him and all He is and forever will be, for granted a little.

Acknowledge that Sometimes God’s Love Hurts

Sometimes we will fail God and we will struggle greatly to hold on to any kind of truth that God still loves us because God lets us suffer.

We hear the words, “God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life,” but then we look around, and maybe our life’s not all that wonderful.

We ask “How can a loving God, an all-powerful God, let this bad stuff happen?”

How, Why, do we keep trusting in the love of God when we are so disappointed?

I try to remember that God is not me and I am not Him.

And sometimes that is a rather tough one for my belief system to sort out.

He’s mysterious and big.

He’s complicated.

His ways are not my ways, and his thoughts are not my thoughts.

When I do not want to, I still need to keep giving God the benefit of the doubt.

I need to keep believing in God’s good intentions for me, in the fact that he never allows pain unless it has a purpose.

He loves me.

The best thing I can do when I am hard at work distancing myself from God is not distance myself so far from God’s face or give him the silent treatment.

That just makes me more miserable.

His love is the source of all comfort.

The prophet Jeremiah understood this.

In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is crying out to God. He’s devastated — and with good reason.

He weeps.

He yells at God.

But then he says this:

Though the Lord brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to any human being (Lamentations 3:32).

He also says this:

Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

This is what we have to hold on to.

The LORD is our portion — his love might not make perfect sense to us.

But it’s also what keeps us from falling apart.

It’s the only thing, really, that ultimately brings us from utter sadness to joy.

We Will Have to Contemplate Falling in Love Again!

So what do we do when the excitement of God’s love seems to wear off?

When I start to get irritated with my wife, when I start to think it’s no big deal I am married to this woman, I work very hard at thinking back to the beginning.

I take some time to remember our early days.

I call to mind all the reasons I can recall I fell in love with her in the first place.

We can do this with God too.

We should do it.

In fact, it’s why God gave us the ritual of communion (the Lord’s Supper).

The bread broken for us, the blood spilled for us — it’s the labored discipline of remembering over and over again how wonderful it is Jesus gave himself for us.

By reading, studying the Word of God, meditating on the cross, we can go back.

The other thing I do is I ask myself, “What would life be like without him?”

I imagine how life would look if my wife did not love me.

Imagine what life would be if God didn’t love me.

Imagine if my Savior Jesus had not died for me.

Being a faithful human being, I will get angry and I will sin mightily ….

I cannot help myself.

I cannot help being myself …. Romans 7:13-25

It’s all too easy to take God’s love for granted.

It is all too easy being all too human – and turn my face and walk away.

But it’s also easy to be bowled over by God’s love all over again.

Psalm 13The Message

^3-4Take a good look at me, God, my God;
I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
or laugh when I fall on my face.

^5-6I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
I’m so full of answered prayers.

Dare Yourself – To Fall in Love with God AGAIN!

If God feels far away, go back to the beginning, back to the cross, and labor to remember what God has done for you.

Read the accounts of Jesus’ sacrifice each day for the next week.

Meditate on them, asking God to show you the depth of his love for you.

If your life is in turmoil, give God the benefit of the doubt.

If you have been giving him the silent treatment, you can return to him right now, knowing God will hear your prayer.

Commit to an extended time of prayer each day for a week.

Start your prayer time by listing out the qualities of God.

Focus on who God is and who you ARE NOT.

No matter the ceaseless fervency, motivation of, or behind our prayers,

We can never pray ourselves into actually becoming God.

God will not answer that prayer as we prayed it – it is not in His will.

Acknowledge and Remember – We ARE NEVER stronger than GOD!

Bring your concerns to God and then take time to listen to him.

Dare to ask thyself; Where Am I in my own relationship with God?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

His word shall not fail you he promised
Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Marking out our Pathways to Solitude. “Alone Time,” Making Time with God, Having our Time with God. Luke 5:14-16

Luke 5:14-16 The Message

^14-16Jesus instructed him, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.” But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Sometimes we each find that our hearts and our souls get crowded out by life.

This way, that way, every way, by someway outside of our sphere of influence, life envelops us, immerses us in tornado force whirlwinds and deep whirlpools.

Surrounded By Souls – A Poem

I’m in touch with the thought, the idea’s in my mind,
This fleeting dream, doesn’t leave me behind.

I need to hold on, to these glimpses of pure life,
To bypass the confusion, the agony, the strife.

The simple life is there, just there, now gone,
Between the bursts of light, I think I’m alone.

But alone in the sense of being comfortable with me,
Not lost in a desert of all that I see.

But now I feel that I’m not alone at all,
The world’s full of souls, I just need to call.

Alan Bruce Thompson

Why “Alone Time” With God?

Why should we spend time alone with God?

Why is meeting with God in the “solitary places” so important?

Until we gain an understanding of the immense value and the opportunity of encountering the shekinah Glory, the presence of our Living God, we will never consistently engage in this foundational, vital practice: “Time Alone With God.”

As we prayerfully come together, discover God’s heart to meet with us in order that we might experience the depths of his love, I pray that our lives would be marked by a new grace to consistently and powerfully encounter the living God.

Luke 5:14-16 Amplified Bible

¹⁴Jesus ordered him to tell no one [that he might happen to meet], “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony (witness) to them [that this is a work of Messiah].” ¹⁵ But the news about Him was spreading farther, and large crowds kept gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their illnesses. ¹⁶But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray [in seclusion].

Why is time alone with God so important?

Why can’t just going to church, a community group, or a Bible study be enough?

Those of you who have grown up in church or have been going to church for many years have been told and repeatedly taught that time exclusively spent alone with God is indescribably vital to our connection, relationship with him.

Many of you, including me, however, were never given a reason why.

And in order for us to consistently and effectively engage in this abundantly life giving, life sustaining crucial practice, must understand why it is so important.

Here’s what we learn from Scripture about having time alone with God.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Jesus spent time alone with his heavenly Father.

Luke 5:16 states, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Mark 1:35 states, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Often in Scripture, Jesus withdrew from the crowd to pray.

So the first reason to spend time alone with God is because Jesus did.

If Jesus needed time alone with his heavenly Father, we can all be sure we need it even more.

Jesus walked in God’s presence constantly.

Jesus constantly responded to God’s will for his life.

He is our perfect example.

And even still, He needed time alone with God.

God–seekers welcome lonely places at times.

They will sometimes go miles in any direction just to find a place where open sky, wide spaces, and the starry heavens and winds are their only companions.

Even though God’s presence is clearly to be found among his children (as our Lord promised when two or three gather in his name—Matthew 18:20), God also meets us in those far away places, miles from humanity, in times of solitude.

Jesus often sought solitude.

He began his ministry by spending forty days in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11).

He spent a whole night in the desert hills before calling his twelve disciples (Luke 6:12–15).

After a powerful healing mission, he called his disciples to come with him “to a quiet place” (Mark 6:31).

For his transfiguration, he found a lonely mountain (Matthew 17:1–8).

And to find strength to face his death for us, he sought out the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–46).

Solitude rescues the lonely from loneliness.

As Richard Foster, a teacher and writer on Christian spirituality, points out, “Loneliness is inner emptiness; solitude is inner fulfillment.”

Solitude is the discipline of tuning our hearts to hear nothing but the voice of God, whether it comes to us in a whisper or a roar.

When we “pick ourselves up” to move into solitude, we seek to silence all other voices which clamor for all our attention, just to be attuned to hear God’s voice.

Psalm 19:1-5The Message

19 ^1-2God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.

^3-4Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

^4-5God makes a huge dome
    for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
    leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
    racing to the tape.

We also see from Jesus’ example that time alone with God empowers us and inspires, refreshes, invigorates us, to carry out God’s purpose for our life.

It was after withdrawing into the wilderness in Luke 4 that we read he began performing miracles.

Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane filled with grief and sorrow, asking God for a way other than his own death to achieve salvation for his people.

After spending time alone with God, he came out of the garden empowered to endure the worst atrocity in history.

Spending time alone with God empowers us, quickens us to live a life filled with a knowledge of God’s purposes and the ability to faithfully see them through.

Lastly, Jesus is clear in Matthew 6:5-6 how we are to pray.

Scripture says,

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

God rewards time spent alone with him in prayer.

It’s by praying in secret we clearly and tangibly encounter God’s love for us.

It’s by spending meaningful, quality time alone, in solitude, in quiet, thru engaging in quiet conversation with the Spirit that we learn what his voice sounds like, who it is we are responding with the entirety of our lives to.

It is only by asking God questions we come to discover His solitary, abundant will.

And it’s by spending time alone with him that our lives gradually become laser focused, centered not around our lonely, but around his nearness and goodness.

All of the money in the world cannot buy the rewards God longs to give you.

All the favor of men will not satisfy your insatiable desire to be fully known and fully loved more and greater and best by someone, something other than “self.”

God’s desire to spend time alone with you is not meant to add stress or pressure to your life but to relieve you from it.

He is not a God who is after you religiously checking off a quiet time box, but a good, good Father who longs to fill our lives with his grace, power, and love.

Receive right now, in this exact and exacting the best gift you could be offered, one-on-one communion, one-on-one Koinonia, with your heavenly Father.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Guided Prayer:

1. Wherever you are, find a place to get alone and pray.

Seek out a place that you can find solitude that will be uninterrupted.

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35

2. Read and pray through this Scripture.

May God give you a revelation of his provision and love for you as you pray Jesus’s model prayer.

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.” – Matthew 6:9-13

3. Engage in conversation with God.

Ask him how he feels about you.

Come before him with anything which is weighing you down and lay your burdens at his feet.

Rest in the peace that comes from his singularly unique, peaceful presence.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Father God, giver of every good and perfect gift, by thy grace and mercy, give me a heart that welcomes solitude and quiet places as openings for your voice to be heard and your glory to shine. Keep me quiet, keep me quietly in tune with you, I pray.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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O’ My Soul, Never Give Up! ALWAYS BELIEVE! There is always hope! God is always there to uphold Us! Psalm 22:1-2

I wonder how many times you and I have been let down by someone we know.

People understand well the term and implications behind the word: betrayal.

There are many people who promise us that they will stand by us, no matter what comes our way.

They say, ‘we have your back so do not worry, we will be right behind you’.

However, when trouble strikes, armed with that promise of support, many of them end up so far behind us that we cannot see them, even with a telescope!

We are constantly being left behind and hurt by those we believe we should be able to trust with quite literally everything which we hold dearest to our souls.

But when we are shocked, hurt and feeling betrayed by those we are closest to, sometimes even from within our own families – parents, children, and siblings, and spouses, the shock value, the hurt soar to completely indescribable levels.

When it reaches such an intimate and deeply personal level, there is that inner most feeling of.

“My trust is completely shattered.”

“I absolutely believe that in this exact moment I have no one to turn to!”

“What do I do now?”

“This is way too intimate, way too personal to tell anyone!”

“Who would ever understand what is going on within me?”

Is there any greater sense of loneliness that anyone can feel than this?

18-year-old stranger drives three hours to a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. In a state of greatest rage against a class of people with different colored skin, they park their car, get out and start shooting, then they enter the store —

18-year-old teenager gets mad at his mother over Wi-Fi, leaves the house, then drives away, crashes their car into an Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — A classroom filled with fourth graders, their teachers, is suddenly shot to pieces.

Yes humanity!

As only God knows and all of humanity surely and certainly dreads,

There is always a worse kind of inconceivable pain and anguish, of a souls’ indescribable betrayal, of utterly shattered trust and undefinable loneliness.

Who dares now to enter into this indescribable, inconceivable whirlwind?

Who has answers to all of the questions, both ponderable and imponderable?

Where to turn in the search for truth and trust?

Who to wise enough for us to ultimately turn to for truth and trust?

Psalm 22:1-2 Amplified Bible

A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar (The Doe of the Dawn). A Psalm of David.

22 ^[a]My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
²
O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

King David was incredibly sad when he wrote this psalm, wasn’t he?

He was telling God that he felt completely alone. He felt like he couldn’t find God anywhere. He cried out in desperation, but God didn’t seem to answer.

Have you and I or literally everybody else we know ever felt like that?

Sometimes we are sad beyond our own capability to sufficiently express, maybe we do not trust those around us with our very deepest, most intimate thoughts.

When we are in that place where we are sure no one else can understand exactly what is going on in our hearts and in our souls, but also know we cannot keep it to ourselves because it is too powerful, overwhelming to sufficiently contain.

When we even in that place, question whether or not to dare to tell God about it.

Psalm 22 gives us words to unleash on our own when we feel God is not nearby.

We uncontrollably unleash upon any unsuspecting soul, Psalm 22:1-2 with a measure of trust and certainty that “we do not care who hears it, but we know from deep within the deepest places of our souls, there is someone who cares deeply enough to actually respond because our words have not scared them off.

When a person expresses their saddest feelings to God, that’s called a “lament.”

Psalm 22 is a lament.

Psalm 22 teaches us something else, though, about talking to God.

Read a few more verses—Psalm 22:3-5:

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame

In these verses David switches from telling God about his great sadness to remembering that God is great. God helped his ancestors.

David reminds God how others were saved when they trusted in God.

Perhaps David is remembering when Israel trusted God to save them from their enemies. Perhaps he is thinking of stories that you and I know too—stories about Ruth and Boaz, stories about Gideon and Joshua or Abraham and Isaac. Maybe David is remembering how God helped him defeat the giant Goliath.

Whatever he is thinking of, David quickly moves from sadness to praise. As we will see when we read more of this psalm, David isn’t done being sad, but he comes to God with two things on his mind: how sad he is and how good God is.

We can tell our sorrows to God too, but, like David, we should also remember how great God is. We can talk to God about our sorrows because we know that he listens to us. Isn’t it beyond great that we can talk to God about anything?

We can affirm our faith in the faithfulness of our God.

We can affirm our faith in the steadfast presence of His Son Jesus.

We can affirm our faith in the constancy of Holy Spirits intercession,

My own personal affirmation of faith in such times is from John 1:1-5

John 1:1-5Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself. ²He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. ⁴In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. ⁵The Light shines on in the ^[c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

In spite of all questions, answerable and imponderable, YES! I Believe…!

I believe in the living God, the Creator and complete truth of the universe,

who is the pulse and purpose of all things seen and unseen,

who from the dust of earth calls up living beings to be children of eternity,

who through countless ages has provided for us many liberators

and tirelessly seeks to bring victory out of defeat and life out of decay.

I believe in Jesus the Christ, the Resurrected, God’s ONLY true Son,

who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,

who took upon himself the healing of the human race,

who bearing the burden of our sins went to Golgotha carrying his cross,

who was betrayed, crucified, dead and buried in a borrowed tomb,

who on the third day was found to be gloriously alive,

meeting with those who trust him and serve him to the end of the world.

I believe in the Holy Spirit of God,

within and among all who cherish Christ and his way,

who brings hope out of despair, love out of apathy, and joy out of sorrow,

who unceasingly regenerates and reforms the church

that it may always be the contemporary body of the risen Christ,

loving the world through prayer, word and deed.

I believe that even I am caught up in the resurgent life of Christ Jesus,

and that nothing in life or death can separate me from his love and joy.

In spite of unanswered, imponderable questions, YES! I believe.

YES! I BELIEVE!

I believe in truth as a living Reality,

not captured in theory or a creed,

but revealed to those who love;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! Because I believe I trust,

not blindly but open eyed and bold

as a child climbing into a mother’s lap;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! Because I believe I serve,

not as a slave that serves a tyrant

but like farmers reaping a harvest;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! I BELIEVE

God is big enough to hear about our biggest hurts and our deepest sorrows.

He wants us to tell him everything

YES! I BELIEVE God is faithful!

God is trustworthy!

God is true!

YES! I BELIEVE

We can trust his promises to be kept and his purposes to be good.

How do we know?

Because from the very beginning of all things, God spoke and God Created;

The sunrise each morning is a reminder that the Father of heaven and earth is at forever and ever at work diligently keeping His universe in working order.

If it is true in nature, (Psalm 19:1-2) it is true in the spiritual realm as well.

Greet each new beginning, each sunrise as a reminder of God’s faithfulness.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, Builder and Creator of all things, I know that when I acknowledge your authority and your power that you will make my paths straight in front of me.

Please empower me to live a greater life in Christ. May your Holy Spirit who lives in me draw me closer to you. Give me a mind of understanding. Let me see as you see, and not as the world sees. I trust your judgment fully and know that my own judgment is limited. I believe you have everything in control, and you will guide me exactly where you want me to go. Gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Our Other Serenity Prayer: You have said, “Seek MY face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I Seek.” — Psalms 27:8 (ESV)

Prayer for Serenity

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Psalm 27:4-8 Names of God Bible

⁴I have asked one thing from Yahweh.
    This I will seek:
    to remain in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life
        in order to gaze at Yahweh’s beauty
            and to search for an answer in his temple.
⁵He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble.
    He keeps me hidden in his tent.
    He sets me high on a rock.
⁶Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me.
    I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent.
    I will sing and make music to praise Yahweh.
⁷Hear, O Yahweh, when I cry aloud.
    Have pity on me, and answer me.
⁸When you said,
    “Seek my face,”
        my heart said to you,
            “O Yahweh, I will seek your face.”^[a]

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

There is something very tender and heartwarming about an all-powerful God urging us, mere humans to draw close to Him. When we are drawing too close to ourselves and our own carefully manicured well shaven mirrored images. It is in this moment, these moments, when we subtly become most self-critical. It is the place where we do not feel the need or the want or desire to value ourselves.

When God is asking us to move our faces away from our mirrors, seek His face it is His desire for us to learn more of Him, swiftly and thoroughly discard those distorted self-images which separate us from the reality of God’s knowledge of us, from His greater character and His heart. This exposure, this focus on His face causes us to know who He is instead of what He can give. God yearns for fellowship with us and created mankind for this very purpose. His passion and desire for fellowship is fully evident when He calls us His children and friends.

Why should God have us to turn away from ourselves to ask us to seek His face? He is the one who created us in His image, who has woven us together inside our mother’s womb before our mom’s knew of our existence, gave us life and breath and blessed us abundantly. But He does ask us because that is His heart’s very deepest longing, against our fleshly desires, selfish, self-centered selves.

If we are willing to turn our faces away from our carnival mirrors, to give God our Father greater sovereignty over our created image, He will place His desires within our hearts so that they would replace our own desires, so we walk closely with Him. As we do, we are blessed abundantly just by being in His presence.

He calls to our deepest places because He longs for intimacy. God is a God of covenant relationship and calls us away and unto a love encounter with Him.

King David answered this love call with urgency. Nothing hindered their love for one another. There was no question David could be very hard on himself. David had a vast number of serious personal faults and failures. The Hebrew Testament is strewn with stories of failed fatherhood, adultery, criminality and nearly impossible to imagine levels of intrigue which alienated many from him. Many were the people who wanted no part of David’s character or personality. David could not avoid knowledge and awareness of them. David could not also avoid his own very deep, intimate feelings about Himself turning against him.

Are we ourselves any different from this biblical version of David, the man who God Himself declared to be the “Man after His own Heart?” Not one of us could ever stand up to the full weight of revelation should we genuinely unleash all of our personal mess against ourselves. There is no mirror we would not shatter! There is no tear we would not cry a thousand, thousand times over and over. It is inconceivable we would ever look at ourselves again, have anyone look at us.

But thanks be to God our Father, that we have such a promise from Psalm 27.

Something leaps high and mightily within me when I read how the heart of God responds to our cries and our pleas! In this passage, the first thing we see is the Psalmist acknowledging that the idea of seeking God’s face originated not with us but with God. God extends the invitation to all, but who will hear the cry of His heart and respond? My observation has been that while many acknowledge the face of God, few take time to wait for His presence and to listen to His voice.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “’Seek and keep on seeking and you will find’” (Matthew 7:7, AMP), which echoes the word of the prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, ESV). God absolutely wants to be found, and even absolutely guarantees our success, as long as we absolutely don’t dare give up.

I’ve often felt that God wants to be pursued by us, because that is a sign of our genuine love, so he doesn’t always make it easy to sense his presence and hear his voice. And it is not simply a matter of being a genuine sign of our love – there is something in our faith, hope, love-minded pursuit of God’s face that stirs our hearts to greater love, as long as we don’t let discouragement come in. All God desires to do a “face exchange and transplant.” His beauty for our ugly!

In Psalm 27, however, we see the reply of a willing soul, who responds from the depth of his or her being — from the heart. And from the heart of those weary arises the cry, “I am seeking, and will continue to seek until I find.” After such a pledge, the Psalmist struggles with some doubt, but eventually concludes that he will be successful, if he doesn’t give up: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalms 27:13-14, ESV).

Let us this day strive join our self-weary heart with the Psalmist’ words in his unwavering pursuit, not giving up until we have seen the face of God! There is also no question as to the intent of God’s request unto David and by the vast expansion of time and space and Scriptures. It is an open invitation from a Holy God and requires a response which is full of an absolute expectancy and desire.

Seeking someone else’s image in our mirrors because we are tired of our own, it should be far beyond exciting to seek God’s face and understand Him better.

He constantly gives us this invitation; He continually gives us this incredibly gracious choice so that we might come to see our relationship with Him as free and not like we’re puppets. Our desire for God must be sincere and passionate.

There ought to be nothing more on this earth more important than seeking over own God’s own face and desiring to know Him intimately. The Creator of the Universe created us in His image to share quality fellowship with Him. His love is this simple; His request is simpler………He is saying, “Just be with Me,” that’s all.

One of these days we will simply have to stop beating ourselves up over nothing. Someday we have to agree that it is God’s face alone which is staring back at us when we look into our bathroom or bedroom mirrors. Unto that day, O’ LORD!

Challenge: Seek God’s face. Feed your spirit in the Word. Ask Him questions about who He is and ask Him to awaken in you a passionate desire to know Him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Faithful Father, thank you that your word revives my soul, gives wisdom to my mind and produces joy in my heart. Your word says that, if I abide in you, I will produce much fruit. Please help me to abide in you and experience your favor, you are able to do far more abundantly than all that I ask or imagine, according to the power at work within me. To you be glory throughout all our generations, forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Alleluia! Amen.

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Psalm 62 The Message

Psalm 62 … God and God Alone is Our Only Rest and Salvation

Your Salvation

David had a quiet confidence that God would see him through.

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my H.O.P.E. comes from him.” Psalm 62:5

A Prayer for the Sabbath – Your Daily Prayer

Exodus 20:8-11 Amplified Bible

What do you do on this Sabbath day to actually have it be a day of rest?

David’s Prayer

be quiet, sit still, Make these confessions.

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.

A Psalm of David.

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Hebrews 4:10-13 Amplified Bible

What Does it take to be Courageous?

Isaiah 45:5-7Amplified Bible

How does the Word of God define Courage?

Joshua 1:5-9Amplified Bible

Quickest Way From Timidity to Courage to Attitude Adjustment

Hebrews 4:12Amplified Bible

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Proverbs 2:1-5 English Standard Version

The Value of Wisdom

Wisdom, Knowledge and Happiness

The “Keys” to “Finding” Happiness

How to get Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1-5New International Version

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1. BELIEF IN GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)

2. MEMORIZATION OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)

3. ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 2)

4. ASK GOD FOR IT THROUGH PRAYER (VERSES 3 AND 4)

The Benefits and Value of Wisdom

Proverbs 2:5-6New International Version

Proverbs 2:7-8New International Version

Benefit and Value of God’s Protection (Verses 7-19)

Proverbs 2:7-19 New International Version

A FOREVER HOME WITH GOD (VERSES 20 to 22)

Proverbs 2:20-22New International Version

John 14:5-14New International Version

Jesus the Way to the Father

John 14:1-3New International Version

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

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Proverbs 2:1-5 The Message

Make Insight Your Priority

1. Many hands make light work

2. Honesty is the best policy

3. Don’t judge a book by its cover

4. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way

5. Actions speak louder than words

6. Always put your best foot forward

7. Do not be wise in thine own eyes

What if we really listen and hear what God really says in Proverbs?

Proverbs 2:1-5 Amplified Bible

The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

What else am I “tuning out,” or “not hearing” or “listening to?”

Psalm 19:1-3 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

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Psalm 119:33-40The Message

John 3:16-18 The Message

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Psalm 119:33-40Amplified Bible

He.

“POURING OUT” OURSELVES INTO PSALM 23’S IMAGERY

Psalm 119:33-40The Message

Psalm 23Amplified Bible

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

A Well Considered Word About the Value of God’s Perspective

Isaiah 55:8-11Amplified Bible

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