Category: Psalms

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Sleep is a Blessing to be Thankful For

My morning started later than usual – I slept in. That hasn’t happened in a long time so I am thanking for the Father for the extra rest.

“In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8 NIV

There are several examples of sleep in the Bible; it’s interesting to note that in the most difficult times, God gave His people rest.

Adam was the first and when he slept God crafted woman from his rib. Another example is Jacob; he slept and in his dream he saw a ladder leading to heaven with angels ascending and descending – he wasn’t in a comfortable bed but out on the hard ground with a rock for a pillow.

Then Daniel slept in a den of lions. He was at peace because he knew God was with him. How about Joseph, he was sleeping when the angel came to him and told him Mary was going to have a baby.

Jesus slept in the back of a boat while a storm was raging and the boat was filling with water. Peter was asleep in prison after being beaten, the angel had to nudge him to wake him up. There are other examples but these are the ones that came to mind first.

In the midst of stress filled days and trying times if we are trusting the Lord He will give us pleasant sleep. Enjoy this day the Lord has blessed you with but better yet – enjoy the rest He has prepared for you tonight.

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Old Faithful – A Glorious Reminder

Faithfulness! The sign of a true friend is faithfulness. Through the years, Dave and I have been blessed with many acquaintances and even dear situational friendships. You know, those friends that are in your life for a particular seasonal or location. But then there are the friends that rise above time and space. They are the ones who you may not talk to for months or even years but when you see them, your heart is stirred with love and memories and the relationship picks up and grows even deeper.

Yes, we have been truly blessed with friends that fall into that category! Our lives are richer, warmer and fuller because of their love!

I was mediating on that word “faithfulness” this morning. Faith+full+ness.

Faith= the established belief in someone or something not seen. The knowing that they will always be the same. Never failing, always there.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Full= not empty, not lacking, abundance, more than enough.

“A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” John 10:10 CEV

Ness= a suffix added to a word to indicate quality

Faith= believing in the unseen; Full= abundance; Ness= quality

Faithfulness: believing in the abundance of someone always being the same in overflowing abundance, to the greatest extent or quality.

You know folks have been going to Yellowstone National Park for years to see the geyser Old Faithful. In fact, Old Faithful is so faithful that the Park Rangers can predict with great accuracy when it will blow. Summer, winter, spring or fall the geyser erupts, crowd or no crowd, rain or shine Old Faithful is the same. Can a geyser be more faithful than the Lord – not hardly!

God’s faithfulness endures forever! He will always be the same – He keeps His promises and His love never fails! Rest in Him today.

“Our Lord, I will sing of your love forever. Everyone yet to be born will hear me praise your faithfulness.

2 I will tell them, “God’s love can always be trusted, and his faithfulness lasts as long as the heavens.”

3 You said, “David, my servant, is my chosen one, and this is the agreement I made with him: 4 David, one of your descendants will always be king.”

5 Our Lord, let the heavens now praise your miracles, and let all of your angels praise your faithfulness.

6 None who live in the heavens can compare with you.” Psalm 89:1-6 CEV

Trust in the faithfulness of your loving heavenly Father!

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Prayer of Thanksgiving

Not sure what your day or my day hold but the thing I know is that we are to be in prayer. We are to be thankful for all that the Lord has done, willing to share His goodness and ready to give the answer of Christ to anyone who asks.

“Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful. 3 Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ, even though I am in jail for doing this. 4 Please pray that I will make the message as clear as possible.

5 When you are with unbelievers, always make good use of the time. 6 Be pleasant and hold their interest when you speak the message. Choose your words carefully and be ready to give answers to anyone who asks questions.” Colossians 4:2-6 CEV

We don’t need to beat people over the head with our Bibles or try to force Jesus on them. But when we live a life of gratitude for all His wonderful blessings we will be asked why we are always so happy or what makes us always want to smile or be in a good mood even when things go wrong. Even when Paul was in prison he was looking for ways to provide for others; to encourage them, to give them instruction and to infuse them with inner strength.

God has given us a wonderful invitation to visit with Him whenever and wherever we can. Prayer isn’t taking on an exact posture of hands folded, eyes closed, head bowed and knees bent; it IS however an attitude of the heart. Sometimes it’s saying thank you and others it’s saying help.

There are days that I sit on the sofa with coffee in hand and talk to the Lord as I would with any other friend. There are times when I close my eyes to block out everything around me just so I can focus on His presence and center myself in His love. Then there are those times when I’m walking through the grocery store and talking to Him about things that concern me or affect those I love. But whatever the circumstance, wherever the place I know that He is there is listen and to answer.

“The Lord is near to everyone who sincerely calls to him for help.” Psalm 145:18

So today, I will say with Paul – NEVER give up praying and be thankful! It will change your world.

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Thanks for the Memories!

Thinking this morning on all I have to be grateful for. WOW!!! So much in this life of 64 years.

When I look back I see very little of the bad and hold tightly to the good. No, my life hasn’t been perfect – but I have to think long and hard to come up with the faults and failings, the disappointments and the defeats.

I am so thankful for parents who loved me and my brother and sister. They worked hard and we didn’t have a lot but I never knew how little we really had until I got older. They didn’t dwell on what we didn’t have so we didn’t either. One of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving was walking over to our friends early on Thanksgiving, leaving Mom the final preparations for the meal, and watching the Thanksgiving Parade on their “color” TV. It was so much better than black and white.

All of our family was in Iowa and we were in AZ so holidays were spent with wonderful friends who seemed liked family; the Smith’s, the Roberson’s, the Cochran’s – loving people from our church! We all shared in the fixing, the eating and the clean up to be done afterward. Yes, we were surrounded by family.

So this brings me to a Scripture, of course.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14KJV

Some people get this backward – they think if you say “good” words then your heart with meditate on “good” things but it’s just the opposite. If you think on good things, then good words will come out of your mouth. Good things can be loving memories, friendships, Scripture verses, beautiful places, etc but you can’t dwell on the disappointments of the past, the trials of the present or the worries of the future and have pleasant conversation come out of your mouth.

Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Luke 6:45 KJV

So I encourage you today – let go of past hurts and disappointments; dwell on what has been good and rehearse that over and over. Share joy and love with those around you. Make people thankful you came and not thankful that you leave!

“May my words and thoughts please you. Lord, you are my Rock—the one who rescues me.” Psalm 19:14 ERV

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The Thrill of Victory

Do you think that I am going to draw my morning devotional from the 7th game of the World Series? The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

No…but it was a great game!

I’m still thinking about the joy that comes from being in the presence of the Lord. Let me share a situation from a few years back that robbed my joy and you will realize why I kept repeating to myself, “I have fullness of joy”.

King Solomon said in Song of Solomon that we are to catch the little foxes because the little foxes spoil the grapes. I kept running into little foxes all day long. You see we had gotten a new computer. Now this was my choice mind you. Our old computer had been around for 4-5 years. It’s was a dear friend. I knew it inside out, literally. But it was old and wearing out so I asked our son-in-law Stephen to recommend a newer and better computer that would meet my needs and have a relatively easy learning curve for both Dave and I.

I made a list of everything I needed to move from one computer to the other and methodically went about my task. I felt pretty accomplished for a non-computer tech type person. Checking off each item as I completed them. Yes, this was going smoothly until one of those little foxes got out! Oh yes, must restart to activate new software…another little fox. A phone call in the midst of my concentration…another little fox of distraction. Launch again, a missing element…another little fox! Frustration mounting…

You see I’ve learned to recognize the “big” things in my life that seek to get me off course in my relationship with the Lord but more often than not, I get tripped up by these little foxes. It was certainly time to pray, I had done that when I started, asking for wisdom thanking the Father for guiding me through this process but somewhere along the way, I had allowed the frustration to override my peace.

Then I heard “in my presence is fullness of joy”. I don’t feel very joyful right now Father. “then you’re not in my presence”. Oh, right. I’m wrapped up in my own little world and I’ve forgotten to lean on you. Sorry. “That’s ok. Take a breath, rest, come sit with me and you’ll find fullness of joy”.

If God the Father is concerned with a small thing of setting up a new computer, let me assure you that the weightier matters of life are certainly within His provision as well. Capture the little foxes and then sit in the Father’s presence. You will find fullness of joy and experience the thrill of victory.

“8 I always remember that the Lord is with me.
He is here, close by my side,
so nothing can defeat me.
9 So my heart and soul will be very happy.
Even my body will live in safety,
10 because you will not leave me in the place of death.
You will not let your faithful one rot in the grave.
11 You will teach me the right way to live.
Just being with you will bring complete happiness. (fullness of joy, KJV)
 Being at your right side will make me happy forever.” Psalm 16 ERV

God is on our side! He has set a plan for our lives to lead us into victory. We need to understand that when we follow that plan we will triumph. Did you see that above “the Lord is with me so nothing can defeat me”?

“If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? 32 God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? 33 If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? 34 Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God’s right side,speaking to him for us.” Romans 8:31-34 CEV

God has chosen us, imagine that! He isn’t willing to leave anyone out, in His love He wants everyone to be a part of His family. The thrill of victory is a result of our being chosen.

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Yuma Sure Isn’t Heaven

My mother is 94 and when we talk she is spending more time talking about heaven. In fact a while back she came out in the living room and announced that she was really disappointed. Why, I asked. She said “I dreamed I was in heaven and when I woke up I was in Yuma”. That made both Dave and I laugh. Yes, I can imagine that would be disappointing.

Thinking about the things I have to be thankful for and things I’m looking forward too. Like Mom, I know heaven will be better than Yuma. Heaven is being in the presence of God; one scripture says that in His presence is fullness of joy! It is also the absence of sin, sickness, poverty, fear, hatred, stress, anxiety and heart ache. None of these will be in heaven and Jesus came to bring the power of heaven to earth.

Remember Jesus teaching His disciples to pray – “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. I pray that for you today – Lord, let Your kingdom come in the lives of my friends today. Let them realize they can live in your presence, your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!

I know this is possible because when Jesus was in the synagogue and was given the Scriptures to read, He found the place from Isaiah that said

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” Luke 4:18-21 Holman

And then Jesus went out and did exactly what He had just read from the Scripture. His ministry was healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind and setting free those whose lives had been in bondage to sin. His message and His power are the same today – now that power flows through us as His ambassadors.

“What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. 20 We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. 21 Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.” II Corinthians 5:19-21 CEV

If you are doubting your ability to fulfill the task, just remember that God has promised to equip us for “every good work”.

“All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live. 17 Using the Scriptures, those who serve God will be prepared and will have everything they need to do every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17 ERV

Enjoy God’s presence today and then take a little bit of heaven to those around you. They could certainly use it too!

“You will teach me the right way to live. Just being with you will bring complete happiness. Being at your right side will make me happy forever.” Psalm 16:11 ERV

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The Best Things Are Meant to Last

We had friends who lived in Europe for a while and one evening they were showing us pictures of places they had been. In casual conversation they told us that the roof on this one home was called a 400 year roof. Yes, a 400 year roof. Any of you who are homeowners know that the roofs we put on here generally need replacing every 20 years or so. What a novel idea to have a roof that will last that long!

We marvel at things that last a long time; we preserve them for future generations…the pyramids, Stonehenge, Tower of Pisa, Great Wall of China, the Sphinx, the Grand Canyon. The Bible.

Sometimes I wonder what triggered some of the things that were written in the Bible. Of course, I know that the Holy Spirit inspired the men who wrote it but what prompted the thoughts that led up to the writing. I’m not comparing myself with them but when I sit here each morning I pray that the Lord guides the words I write so that they, the words not me, will be an inspiration or encouragement to someone each day. This morning as I was praying the words of Psalm 136 came to my heart and I wondered, “who is this for Lord?”

Is someone going to have a particularly trying day and they need to know that your love endures forever? Is there someone asking, “After all I’ve done, Lord do you still love me?” Or maybe someone of us will be asked to love someone particularly un-lovable today and God wants to remind us in a gentle way that He has loved us always and He wants us to love this person like that.

Was David writing this for His own encouragement or for someone he was close too? Maybe, just maybe, God knew what you had been through lately or what you have coming your way and He just wants you to know that His love endures forever! He does things like that you know – He wants to be personally involved in each of our lives and He does little things like this to show us.

I won’t include the entire psalm here but I will encourage you to read it for yourself. His love endures FOREVER! Psalm 136

“Praise the Lord! He is good. God’s love never fails.
2 Praise the God of all gods. God’s love never fails.
3 Praise the Lord of lords. God’s love never fails.

4 Only God works great miracles.God’s love never fails.
5 With wisdom he made the sky. God’s love never fails.
6 The Lord stretched the earth over the ocean. God’s love never fails.
7 He made the bright lights in the sky. God’s love never fails.
8 He lets the sun rule each day. God’s love never fails.
9 He lets the moon and the stars rule each night.
God’s love never fails….

23 God saw the trouble we were in. God’s love never fails.
24 He rescued us from our enemies. God’s love never fails.
25 He gives food to all who live. God’s love never fails.

26 Praise God in heaven! God’s love never fails.”

God’s love never fails – it will last forever!

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Ctrl-Alt-Delete

Several years ago I was preparing for a message on the love of God. Cowboy Church was just a couple of weeks before Valentine’s and it only seemed appropriate to make “God’s Love” my center focus. If you have been reading my morning devotional thoughts for any length of time, you know that Colossians is one of my favorite books and Colossians 2 is my favorite chapter. It’s here that the Apostle Paul writes about what Jesus did on the cross for us and how his death set us free from our sin and make us acceptable to God. I focused in on one phrase that has always had particular meaning to me.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” Colossians 2:14

You have to dig through the Old King James English but “Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances against us” drew my attention. Writing a document in Jesus day required extreme patience. No erasers or delete buttons – every word had to be carefully written because if there was a mistake, the document had to be wadded up and thrown away. Some corrections would be acceptable but the paper would have to be so saturated with ink that the word or the mistake was completely blotted out so that it was no longer visible.

That is the picture that Paul is painting for us here. There was a document with a long list of sins we have committed, God’s laws we have broken and Jesus “Blotted” out the list and then He took and nailed it to His cross. His blood, His shed blood was more than enough to cancel out the evidence of our sin. Amen!!

I have to tell you the first thing that I thought of was those little writing tablets we had as kids, where you would write on the slate and then lift the vinyl and the words would disappear. In fact, I made some for that Cowboy Church and gave them to all who came in.

And it didn’t stop there, then Jesus completely defeated His enemy and ours, and led him away captive and powerless for all the spiritual world to see! We are free to live for Christ, through God’s amazing love.

“You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 Because we broke God’s laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. 15 He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross he won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see.” Colossians 2:13-15 ERV

And then God promises that He will not remember our sins and the wrong that we have done. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10: 16-17

How can He do that? Simple – God the Father chose to hit the delete button; hard drive crash; He blots them out. Why? Because He is our LOVING heavenly father.

“His love for his followers is as high above us as heaven is above the earth. 12 And he has taken our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 The Lord is as kind to his followers as a father is to his children.”

Psalm 103:11-13

What is it that has been holding you back from God’s love? Bring it to Him today and you will see that He has blotted it out, wiped it away and He has a clean, fresh slate waiting for you!

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Just Can’t Say Too Much

Have you ever been around someone who can only talk about one thing? Perhaps it’s their latest vacation or their talented child, maybe it’s their favorite sports team or restaurant. Could be it’s their favorite hiking trail or musician. You would hope that would spend most of their time talking about the love of their life…

Me, I spend a large portion of my time talking about the special solitude I find each morning in prayer and God’s word. Guilty!

But do you blame me? If every day you were invited to spend as much time as you want with the most influential person in the world and you could discuss anything you wanted for as long as you wanted, wouldn’t you be talking about it non stop? And if that person told me that I could bring as many friends as I wanted to those meetings, would you want to come? He has and that’s why I spend so much time telling you about it and inviting you to enjoy the same experience.

My day’s purpose is to sit with coffee in hand, dog at my feet, computer on my lap and my heart focused on what the Father is saying to me. Join me

I wonder what the morning routine was for Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jesus, Peter and Paul.

This is written about Abraham:…
“And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.” Genesis 19:15 KJV

And King David gives us insight to his mornings:
“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.” Psalm 5:3

“But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.” Psalm 59:16

“I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word.” Psalm 119:47

“Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.” Psalm 143:8

Jesus gave us this example:
” Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” Mark 1:35 KJV

“Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.” John 8:2 KJV

Yes, our mornings should count! They should set the tone and purpose of our day. There is a song that is running through my heart today. It was written by either Jeremy Camp or Fernando Ortega, Give Me Jesus.

“In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise

Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus…”

Greet the morning with song for the good things the Lord has done!

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Quiet Moments with a Friend

Do you have a friend or family member that you would just like to sit with for a while and have uninterrupted conversation? You’ve been there I’m sure – talking to them on the phone or visiting with them in your living room or on the patio only to have someone interrupt the conversation, take the attention away from the what the two of you were saying and highjack the moment.

I hate when that happens because it’s a rare occasion that I can enjoy true one on one conversation with those I love.

Some people tell me that they just can’t imagine getting up as early as I do each morning and ask “how do you do it”. I don’t really “do it” anymore. It has become habit and it happens whether I think about it or not. I used to rise early to get out in the fields and bail hay or to have quiet before the kids got up but now I really can’t imagine starting my day any other way. Enjoying the morning sunrise with the Lord is the best!

This morning I was praying and told the Lord how glad I was that we have this time uninterrupted. How special it is to know that when I get up to meet Him, he’s already here. Yes, I know He never leaves me and is with me 24/7 but just sitting and talking about things early in the morning is the best.

And then it happened…

The interruption! What at 4:30am I had an interruption and it was of my own making. As I was telling the Lord how great it is to have time with Him my mind began to wander and I found myself composing my morning devotional on how great morning quiet time is! Really!! I wasn’t enjoying the moment we had to share but instead was planning for something completely different.

Oh Lord forgive me for being rushed and inattentive.

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart.
I will tell about the wonderful things you have done.
2 You make me happy, so I will rejoice in you.
God Most High, I praise your name.” Psalm 9:1-2 ERV

You know as well as that you can’t have a true friendship if only one person does all the talking. That isn’t conversation – that’s a monologue! I don’t want my time with the Lord to be one where I tell him all my joys, my disappointments, my needs and desires and then say “Amen” and walk away. No, I have to listen to what He tells me more that I expect to listen to what I say. That’s true relationship – learning about your friend by listening!

The sweetest moments of the day are those went I know that God is there and has given me an invitation to come and spend time with Him.

“Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 ERV

Yes, today I am thankful for the quiet moments – the moments of one on one with my God who loves me!

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