God Will Answer

“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness…You have freed me when I was hemmed in and enlarged me when I was distressed…” Psalm 4:1

Have you ever felt hemmed in, trapped and unable to move?  At that moment you can call upon God, and He will answer you.  He will lift you up and free you from the present bondage.  He will never leave you or forsake you.

The children of Israel were hemmed in and unable to move when they were in bondage in Egypt.  But they cried out and called upon God, and He answered. God sent Moses to lead them and deliver them out of bondage and captivity.

If you too feel you are hemmed in, call out to God!  He will answer when you call.

The Psalmist David said, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high and defend you…send you help from the sanctuary and support, refresh, and strengthen you from Zion.” Psalm 20:1-2 Amp

What Do You Magnify?

And Mary said, “My soul doeth magnify the Lord” Luke 1:46

What do you magnify?  Magnify, according to Strong’s Concordance means, to make or declare great.   Whatever we magnify becomes bigger and bigger in our mind.  If you magnify a problem then you can’t see the solution, all you see is the problem. Think about Mary’s problem. The angel came to her and said, “You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus.”  (Luke 1:31)

Mary’s response in Luke 1:38 was, “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to what you have said.”  She would soon be pregnant and unwed.  That could have been a huge problem.  But, Mary did not focus on the problem; her attention was on God.  She trusted God!  If this was of Him, He had the answer.  So, she looked to the Lord and magnified Him!

Today, take your mind off your problem, focus on the Lord and His blessings.  You will see the problem decrease and the Lord will be magnified.

God Knows You

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou comest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

Isn’t it astounding to realize as you read this Scripture that the same God that knew Jeremiah and created the earth, also formed you?   He shaped and molded you in your mother’s womb and as He was forming you, He planned for you.

Your birth was not an accident or a mistake because God uses all things for His glory.  If we could only grasp the awesomeness of our Father in heaven and realize that He has a special plan and a purpose for our lives.   We just need to draw close to Him and embrace His plan for our lives.  As He formed you He spoke your destiny into existence.

He said to Jeremiah, “I ordained thee a prophet to the nations,” the word ordained means to decree, intend and establish.  Once God spoke, “Let there be light,” there was light.  He decreed light and the light is still present today.  His Word established and sustains His plan and His purpose. Ask him what He decreed as He was forming you?

What He has decreed, He will sustain, carry on and complete.

He is My High Tower

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.    Psalm 18:1-2

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Everyone needs a place where they can feel secure and safe. In Psalms 18:1-2 the Psalmist describes the Lord as a fortress, a place to go for safety from an enemy. The Lord is also a high tower. A high tower is high off the ground where you can see what is going on all around you. Some times we need to get in to the high tower, a shelter, a safe place. In a high tower we can look at the situations of life from a different perspective, a higher perspective. In biblical times a watchman manned every high tower.

Today we can get above the situations that we face in life and seek the Lord. We can also share concerns with others who are devoted to watch and pray like a watchman.

The Path: Find a safe place to share your heart and receive prayer from others.

 

You Have a Choice

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”   Psalm 1:1

Godly CounselEvery day of our life we make hundreds of choices and each of those choices will produce an outcome.  For instance: we make a choice what foods we eat in the morning for breakfast; nutritious or unhealthy, we choose whether we will go to work or stay home and watch TV all day, and we choose whether we will ride a bike or a car on the highway to the mall.   In each of these situations we have a choice.  If we make the wrong choice; the outcome will be obvious in a short amount of time that we made the wrong choice.

The outcome can look like this: You will run out of energy if you eat an unhealthy breakfast, you will soon loose your job if you don’t go to work, and you may find yourself in the hospital if you choose to ride your bike on the highway.  The outcome tells you quickly if you made the wrong choice.

The same is true in our spiritual life.  David says in the Psalm, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly”. When you take counsel from an ungodly person, you will soon see by the outcome that something is wrong with their counsel.  It will be just as obvious as when you keep riding down the highway on a bike.  You are in danger when you take counsel from an ungodly person because if they do not know God they do not know His ways.

David said, don’t walk in ungodly counsel.  From the moment you hear ungodly counsel you have a choice; will you act upon it and walk down the wrong path, or choose the right path.  It boils down to a simple choice, and the choice is yours.  Wrong counsel can feel good at the moment, but if the counsel does not line up with the ways of God, the outcome will not be a blessing in the end.

Ask the Lord to show you where you are making wrong choices and listening to the wrong counsel; then pray this simple prayer and you will soon see the blessings of the Lord: Teach me thy way O Lord; I will walk in thy truthPsalm 86:11

 

Faith to Stand Firmly Planted

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”  I Corinthians 2:9

Firmly planted in FaithYour faith in God is the foundation that you stand on when times are hard.  The man that built his house upon the sand was swept away when the violent store came.  But, the man’s house that was built upon the rock stood strong.  You will be able to stand strong as you keep your faith in God and His promises.

In every situation look to the Word of God, declare and decree what His Word says.  Life and death are in the power of your tongue, so speak forth life. Don’t give in to the situation; declare what God says.  Take every fearful and anxious thought captive; overcome it before it leaves your mouth.  Those fearful thoughts must be overcome or they can cause you to fall and be swept away when the hard times come.

Put your faith in All Mighty God!  Be His representative.  Stand firm and declare His Kingdom come and His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Then stand back and watch God change the circumstances as you declare His Word!

 

Discouraged? Perhaps Look at Your Expectations

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”   Psalm 27:13

God is With YouWhen we delight in the Lord and set our hearts on the goodness of the Lord we can carry His goodness and His loving presence into every situation.  David knew he could not look at the circumstances.  He had to keep his eyes on the goodness of the Lord.   He said, “I would have fainted if I had not expected to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”  He set his heart and his expectations on seeing the salvation of the Lord in every situation, no matter what giant he faced.  David set his expectations high, higher than the earthly realm and he overcame his enemies.  If you are feeling discouraged and defeated, maybe you need to change your expectations.

Look at Peter, he also had to keep his eyes and expectations set high.  He kept his eyes on the Lord as he miraculously walked on the water towards Jesus.  It was a great day for Peter in the middle of that miraculous situation.  Peter placed his eyes on Jesus and stepped out on the water.  It must have been an amazing moment for Peter as he exercised his Faith and stepped out of the boat.  Of course, as long as he had his eyes on Jesus he was overcoming, but… when he looked down and then he began sink.

Obviously, it is vital that we keep our eyes on Jesus.  Don’t look down; keep your eyes upon the Lord and your expectations set high on miraculous places He wants you to walk.  Just like Peter and David, we will see God work amazing miracles in our lives.

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.  Psalm 62:5

The Lord Will Raise You Up

“The Lord raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap and the dung hill, that He may seat them with princes, even the princes of His people.”  Psalm 113:7-8

God will Raise You UpThe plan of our Heavenly Father is to raise His children up to sit in heavenly places.  He wants to raise you up to a higher place than the place where you are sitting right now.  If you are poor and needy He wants you to shake off the dust of doubt and worry and trust in Him for your provision.

Even in the most horrible conditions, we can trust in God to lift us up.  He is a very present help in times of trouble. (Ps 62:1)  Even if, like the Prodigal son, you look around and wonder how you got yourself into such a mess.  At this very moment, you can come to your senses and realize as a child of God you are in the wrong place.  The low places are not the places where God’s children are to stay.

He wants to lift you up.  So, look up to your Heavenly Father and ask Him to take you up to the place where you belong as His child.

Where Can I Go to Find Safety?

“It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”  Psalm 118:8

In the days we are living, there is troubling news on every side.  There are wars and rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes in various places. Everywhere you turn, you hear of devastation. Many are like the man who called our office today from another country asking: Where do I go where it is safe? I couldn’t tell him whether or not he should leave his country, but I could tell him to take refuge in the Lord and He would lead him to safety.

In Ps 91:2, the psalmist David says the “Place of Refuge” or safety is the secret place where you go to spend time with God.  In the secret place, your quite time, all voices are silenced and you can focus on hearing the voice of God.

God is your refuge. He is the only one who knows the answer to your present problems.  Take refuge in Him and the answer will quickly come. In the refuge of the Lord, the enemy cannot touch you, taunt you, or discourage you.  You are safe under the shadow of His wings.  Find the secret place every day.  There you can find rest for your soul and strength to overcome the trials of these difficult days.

Psalm 112:7, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is firmly fixed.”

This is the way, so now walk in it

Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it”  Isaiah 30:21 

Path of GodWhen we have decisions to make and doubts are flooding our soul and others suggest courses of action that are conflicting, when caution dictates one approach but faith the other, it is the time to stop and be still.  The scripture says, “Be still and know, I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  This gives us the permission that it is “ok” to quiet the intruding opinion of others around us and then calm ourselves into the stillness of God’s presence and wait to hear His gentile voice.

It sometimes takes courage to wait in silence trusting that He will not be silent. It takes courage to bypass all the words of well meaning friends.  It takes courage to not be pulled by those who are insisting on an immediate decision or action.  It takes courage to wait on, trust in, and rely on the Lord to direct you in those difficult decisions.

God is ever present in times of trouble.  When important decisions need to be made, you will hear His voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Once you hear clearly and the decision is made, a friend may then be used by the Lord to give confirmation and support. So be still and wait on the Lord, He is not silent.

“Unto you do I cry, O Lord my rock, be not deaf and silent to me…”  Psalm 28:1

The Right Path: Lord, as I still myself before You, help me to block out all intruding thoughts and opinions. I pray as David did that You will not be silent, I ask You to speak to me and give me direction in each decision I am making today. I desire to hear You say: “This is the way, walk in it.”