The Lord woke me this morning with the direction to read Psalm 37. This Psalm has great reminders for us when life is overwhelming. I was reminded of verse four last night as I wrote my district report. Waiting on God is crucial if we desire to walk in His will. When we get ahead of God, we will mess up His plans. Instead we need to Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him...(vs 7). In order to do that we must Trust in the Lord and do good as verse three encourages us to do. Verse four is one I strive to live by every day. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. The word delight means to please someone greatly. That is exactly what I want to do with God. I want to please Him by my words, actions, attitude, and thoughts. I want to make Him proud of me. The way to do this is found in verse five where David shares with us to Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him... As we live in this manner we will realize verse six. It reads in The Passion Translation: He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun. David continues in this Psalm with reminders to refrain from anger and not to fret in verse 8. As we live in this manner we will live in God's peace and prosperity (vs 11). I do not believe David is speaking of financial prosperity but rather spiritual prosperity. He also speaks many verses of the way the wicked live. We see people all around us who strive to cause problems in people's lives with gossip, lies, etc. It is sad to see people so unhappy they resort to such ways. I praise God for His love and grace that are there for us when we allow the enemy an open door into our life with such actions. I love the knowledge in verse twenty-four, ...though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand. Woo hoo! I also love the knowledge of verse twenty-seven. Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. Woo hoo! David concludes this Psalm with words of hope and encouragement. It reads in the NIV: The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. Praise His Holy Name for this knowledge! No matter what is thrown our way God is there for us. He is there to listen to our cries, dry our tears, wrap His loving arms around us, and allow us to be loved. Overwhelming times come from health issues in ourselves and loved ones. They come from being verbally attacked by others. They come from the busyness of life being too much. No matter what the reason when we find ourselves overwhelmed God is here for us. Yesterday was a day to decompress. It was a day where ministry still happened but it was done on a more scaled-down manner. After spending time writing my blog Doug and I had breakfast and went for a walk in God's beautiful nature. We had some errands to run and then had lunch before going to the beach for a couple hours of down time. On the way home we picked some strawberries which always puts a smile on my face. The evening included using a gift card given to us for dinner at Dockside and then another walk at the waterfront. It was a much needed day that reminded me of Psalm 37:4. I know I pleased God with the manner in which I spent the day because He blessed me with yesterday. Woo hoo! I am blessed in so many ways. One of them is in the knowledge "Jesus Will Still Be There" no matter what is happening in life.
Jesus will still be there.
His love will never change,
Sure as a steady rain,
Jesus will still be there.
When no one else is true,
He'll still be lovin' you.
When it looks like you've lost it all
And you haven't got a prayer,
Jesus will still be there.
Dear Jesus, Thank You for the blessings of yesterday with a low-key type of day! Thank You for Doug being with me to share it! Cleanse me so You can fill me with more of You. May people see/hear You through my words, actions, attitude, and thoughts. I pray Your peace over many going through difficult days. My Momma, my sisters Linda, Sally, and Mary; my brother Richard; Ben and Colleen; Steph as she recuperates from surgery; Pete and Delores; Steve; Cait; Rhonda; Mike; Norma Hall; Sharon Sebolt and her parents; some young ladies with anxiety; a young man out of rehab; Mary Lilley; a husband/father separated from his wife; Brooklyn; Kristen Batten; April; families in turmoil; Gay and Doug; Sherry; Mr John; and many others. I also pray healing prayers over many dealing with ‘c’ and/or going through treatments…Audrey; Chrissy’s cousin; Shirley Jones; my pastor friend with daily chemo; Little Ivy; Little Judson; Little Roselynn; a young girl in our community; a lady whose breast cancer has returned; a lady diagnosed with stage two breast cancer; a lady diagnosed with throat cancer; Sue Danhoff’s husband Harv; Michele with breast cancer; Mr Mullett; David; and Damon. I pray for: the Long family; Becky; Russ; a couple contemplating divorce and another couple having serious issues. Thank You for continued healing for Pastor Tommy and Pam! Thank You for being My Refuge! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment