Category: Psalms

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.  Psalm 25:5

If I ask someone for direction, it’s because I’m going somewhere.  I’m not asking for information so I can sit and ponder it.  God’s revelations of truth lead to obedient action.

God never gives divine insight just for mere intrigue. He discloses His thoughts to someone who is then responsible to find out why they were given such information. Are they to pray? Are they to step forward with information? Are they to expose? Are they to encourage? Are they to go?  Seeing is proactive.

Continue reading “Why Has God Shown Me This?” →

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Psalm 34:11

God’s child is meant to be spiritually intuitive. Though God is a communicator, He is often subtle. If I’m dull instead of intuitive, I will miss the signposts that are significant to my journey.  Just as Jesus spoke in veiled language, often in parables, He still has a specific way of speaking to each of His children.  An unbeliever will never discern the message nor understand its contents.  Spiritual intuition is a skill and is nothing I can set out to develop on my own.  It is given to me by way of grace.  I consider my spiritual ancestors and what they might have perceived prior to life-changing events.

• Joseph prepared a feast for his brothers. When they arrived, they were seated in order of their birth. Who was the first to notice? We’re not told. But eventually, all of them were stunned and speechless. They knew the moment was pregnant with implications.
• David’s life was forever altered the moment he set out to deliver a meal to his brothers on the battlefield.  Did he have a sense that morning that he would face the greatest challenge of his young life thus far?  As he approached the tents of Saul’s army and heard the rumblings of fear about Goliath, when did he know in the pit of his stomach that stepping forward to fight was his destiny?

My greatest mentor in spiritual intuition is Jesus.  He was prayerfully discerning throughout the Gospels.  Under girding all of his ‘seemingly’ spontaneous decisions was time spent with His Father.  Every moment of solitude fueled righteous decision making.  He knew when to heal, what to preach, who to trust, what was coming next, who was putting on a show, and who was sincere.  He never misdiagnosed a spiritually pregnant juncture.

There are crossroads that will cause me to draw in my breath. Everything will feel like it’s shifting. The moments seem fragile, even tenuous.  Am I prepared for it?  Am I ordering my time in a way that will foster spiritual intuition?  I know that I dare not mess it up. If ever there is a time for me to stay quiet and watchful, it is this moment.  Pondering will take precedence in my priorities.

Continue reading “Skillful In Spiritual Intuition” →

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  Psalm 131:2

When a mother weans her child, she has to deny him what he wants and then comfort him when he can’t have it. She weans him because it is necessary for his growth into a new phase of life. She appears cruel to the child but nonetheless, he has no one to turn to but her for consolation. She loves him so she persists in the training yet she also mourns over the pain she causes him.

So it is with God. When things don’t feel right, when my heart is churning, when I’m tired of waiting, when I don’t have what I believe I need, when my long standing wound doesn’t appear to be any less severe, when I’m sick of myself, when I want what I want, then it takes great grace to dig deeply and will my soul to be quiet. It takes even more grace to run to the One who could fix everything that plagues me in an instant but doesn’t. I could be tormented about why He restrains Himself, why He withholds, yet I need Him to comfort me as I wrestle with ability to trust Him. Satan would tell me that I trust in vain. The counterfeit comfort he offers appeals and so the battle rages on.

Continue reading “Get a Spiritual Grip!” →

Trust in the Lord.  Have faith; do not despair. Trust in the Lord.    Psalm 27:14

I used to believe that a sermon was only delivered by a speaker; one who uses words.  Apparently, sermons are not limited to that.  Anyone becomes a preacher when people watch them extend their faith toward a situation, using the Word of God as they go.  Faith in Christ is what separates the believer from the unbeliever.

Continue reading “Does My Trust in God Preach a Sermon?” →

God is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. Psalm 144:2

         In WWII, Japan surrendered to American forces and yet the news of the surrender took weeks and months to reach isolated Japanese garrisons. Soldiers continued to fight. Men continued to die. Those who were ignorant of Japan’s surrender were caught in the ‘not yet’.

         I have often been confused by the promises of God. He is my healer. Does that mean that I will never know a sick period? He is my deliverer. Does that mean that I will never know a season of oppression? He is the God who avenges. Does that mean that He will settle all scores on the heels of wrongdoing? He is my strength. Does that mean that I will never languish in seasons of weakness? He is my shield. Does that mean that I will never be wounded by fiery arrows? He is my comfort. Does that mean that I will never feel alone or forsaken?

         Now, I can know the right answers to all of those questions but I can get tripped up when I’m in a prolonged ‘not yet’ period.

         Solomon said it another way in his well-known discourse. “There is an appointed time for everything. A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up.” Ecclesiastes 3

         Continue reading “We Also Live In The ‘Not Yet’” →

Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.  Psalm 40:11

Faithlessness invites me to give up on God.  Now, I know the verse, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16   I learned it as a kid but learning the words and understand the meaning can be many decades removed.

There are situations that can appear absolutely hopeless. Evidence wants to prove that nothing changes because of my faith. Sometimes, things get worse. The pain of watching everything regress nearly shuts me down. The fatigue that accompanies long-term stress wears on me and causes me to look ten years older than I am. Numbness beckons to me like a drug and promises me rest. The thought of my heart sliding into hopeless oblivion is attractive. I just want the striving to cease.

Is this where you are today? You’ve been wrestling with God for a long time over one single thing. The more you pray, the more things seem to decline. To continue to keep your heart alive to hope and faith appears futile. You’re fast approaching the line where quitting pretends to be the smart thing to do. Dreaming is painful. God appears to be cruel as He withholds the blessing you seek.

This is what it is to live in the shadows. And I have. But let me testify that I have seen powerful prayers answered within the course of a week.  The deliverance was glorious and there was no way I could have predicted its arrival. The ticking of heaven’s clock was indiscernible.  While I waited, there were moments in the journey that I collapsed into faithlessness. It was a lonely place and I didn’t stay there long.  Only prevailing in prayer brought the blessing and I’d like to believe that I have greater stamina in future spiritual battles because I’ve learned not to give up.

Over what issue have you taken hold of God in prayer today? How long have you labored? Hang on. Dig your fingers into the fabric of his robe and don’t let go. Today could be the day He speaks a word and prison bars open wide.

I am willing to prevail in prayer but can’t sustain it without Your grace.  In Jesus name,  Amen

You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. Psalm 77:14

Some of God’s children live and die and never ask Him for anything big. They live in the ‘safe’ zone. Others do nothing but ask for the miraculous but it would serve them well to make sure they’re asking for the right reason, the ultimate glory of God. Having walked with God for a lifetime, I know that He loves to perform wonders but He waits until I ask. But here’s a warning. When what I need the most intersects my prayer life, logic can nullify my faith if I allow it.

I think of Sarah. Her cycle of womanhood was long over.  Logic.  Science.  These proved that it was humanly impossible to bear a child in old age.  She and Abram had spent the breadth of their marriage asking God to open her womb but at some point, she stopped believing. When the announcement was made that she would have a son, Sarah laughed at the thought of such a physical impossibility.

Miracles aren’t miracles without the ‘impossibility’ factor.  Is this not why faith is so difficult?  We are surrounded by circumstantial physical evidence that disproves feasibility.  If I have a history of not having seen God’s power move on my behalf, then I will always lean toward logic and move away from what seems ludicrous. History controls belief.

What might I ask God for today if all reserve was moved out of the way?  Where would others laugh in my face and rehearse the evidence against faith-filled prayer?

Continue reading “Asking God For Something Big” →