What is this? I was working so much for my job- my time with God was lacking. I am in the midst of a test in which I spend time with God each day and I don't work into the wee hours for my job anymore. I am in an experiment to show (myself primarily) that a person can put God first, seek first his kingdom, and spend time with God daily. The experiment seeks to show that if a person does put God first then not only will a crazy job and life not fall apart- it will thrive.
Bible Passage:
Psalm 54 - this is what spoke to me in my Psalm of the day:
1 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
Cut them off in Your truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.(NKJV)
This passage is so encouraging because I've found it to be true in my life. The Psalm starts off with the writer praying to God to save him from some serious conflict. He asks God to hear his prayer. He tells God people are against him and want to kill him and he barely finishes describing the problem- and he is already saying he has had a revelation that God is his helper. He then praises God for the answer to his prayer, his rescue, and his vindication because he has received assurance during prayer and worship God will save him. This Psalm teaches a great pattern about coming to God for help- and receiving help.
God Hears - But Will WE Believe?
God DOES hear our prayers- our actual words go into his ears(v2). We need to remember this. Sometimes when we pray we might feel as if our words bounce off the ceiling but this is a spiritual life. Words don't stop at the ceiling when spoken to God. As Christians we need to take a step back and stop judging spiritual results with physical perceptions. We need to stop allowing trust in God to be governed by what we see or feel. We do have a rich physical life of perceptions, thoughts, smells, tastes, and sounds - and those things are oftentimes wonderful and compelling but they don't totally define who we are. Those things do not totally define everything for us as Christians.
We come to faith in Christ as a decision - our ongoing relationship with him and growth in him is by faith and decision as well. So, when we have a need we need to come to God, believing he hears us, and believing he will answer- again its a decision not a feeling. Pray, then trust.. NOT pray, then see how you feel. Pray. Wait. Thank Him.
Be Encouraged - Pray, Then Wait!
In Psalm 54 above, the ancient hero of Israel-David, was in serious distress due to REAL human conflict. In fact, people were trying to kill him. We know from his life that he had long seasons of his life in which he was chased with the sword and spear by many enemies. Isn't it interesting that he did not talk about his plans to rally the troops or physically defend himself? Isn't it interesting there is not all kinds of foul language and angry cursing going on? Isn't it interesting that the author did not turn to humans for help and for revenge and talk about his war strategy? What DID he do? He prayed.
How interesting it is that someone whose life was on the line turned to something invisible to save them? David appealed to God for help and real-world results. And we find out at the end of the Psalm that it worked. Be encouraged- God can hear your prayers, he is listening, and although he is invisible- he can defeat whatever conflicts or problems you have. You don't have to go take revenge for yourself or go fight someone. You don't need to scheme or worry. You don't need to curse people or take matters into your own hands. PRAY ABOUT YOUR NEEDS AND CONFLICTS. Pray for help and you will receive help. We come to Christ in faith - as a choice. Continue on in faith- and maintain trust in God.
Trust in the invisible God and do not waver no matter how you feel or what you see. Hang on to him. Cling to him and do not give up. If you are weak in faith it doesn't matter- just cling to him for his help and never stop trusting in him. Pray, then wait.
Prayer & Thanksgiving:
* Thank you Lord for this day, Sunday, a day to disconnect and rest.
* Thank you Lord for such a powerful Psalm today.
* Thank you for this wonderful missions party we get to attend today, help it to make a difference!
* Thank you for granting me this time with you today.
* Thank you for our many blessings.
* Thank you for helping me overcome my personality faults and weaknesses.
* Thank you for answering all of my prayers.
* Thank you for being so present in our lives.
* Thank you for my family.
* Thank you for causing one of my new sites to be indexed by Google as I asked in prayer.
* Thank you for saving the "T" account I asked you to help us save.
Meditation & Listening:
Things that seem to bring a bad reputation on the Church actually only purify the Church. No harm can come to the real Church. The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. (by the way history with its wide-angle lens has really shown this to be true)
Prayer Requests:
* Lord, please heal little "M" at my daughter's school- totally. We wait and thank you.
* Lord, thank you for saving "DM" 's life - now restore him and his family. Cause them to walk in faith in Christ and in fellowship with one another. Provide full restoration in all relationships and - provide a full physical healing as well.
* Lord, heal "A" - of cancer and provide a spiritual full assurance of salvation.
* Lord, protect my kids from bad influences in friendships and media- raise up good Christian friendships for them (lifelong), good Christian examples, and godly spouses for them.
* Lord, bless our school and help them with fund-raising to get into their new building. Keep the school pure and on-track in every way.
* Bless our church and keep it pure and on-track in every way. Help us to be a positive influence at church as well.
* Lord, please bless our Web project we have had so little time to work on. Bless our traffic. Help us to fix our remaining bugs in the new area of the site. Please help us with this and bless it.
* Lord, bless our jobs- and make us a blessing.
* Lord, bless our marriage and family with strength, purity, health, love, and a life of prayer.
* Lord, please protect the family and traditional marriage in the United States.
Scriptures obtained from Bible Gateway. NKJV of the Bible is Copyrighted by Thomas Nelson.
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