You Answered Me!
Psalm 138:1-3 NASB
I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the gods.
I will bow down toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness
and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word according to all Your
name.
On the day I called, You answered me;
You made me bold with strength in my soul.
Yesterday I wrote about the spiritual
warfare I was going through personally, and how I was battling with sadness and
crying (weak emotions). Some of you said you would pray for me, and I truly
felt your prayers, and I thank you. For, the Lord heard your prayers, and he
answered. He heard my cries, and he answered me, and he lifted me out of that
sadness. He lifted my spirits, and he made me “bold with strength in my soul.”
Amen!
Today I am refreshed in my
spirit, I am strengthened in heart and mind and body, and I am ready to face
another day in the strength of the Lord, in his love, and in his grace and
mercy. So, I thank Him and I praise Him for lifting my burdens and for bringing
healing to my wounded heart. I thank Him, too, for how he is always filling my
mind with songs of worship, encouragement, praise, hope and healing. God is so
good! All the time!!
Every day is a new challenge
for me. Every day brings its own trials and tribulations. They are magnified
somewhat now as we have added on additional life situations which I am certain
are here to test me and to try me. So, with each new situation I must give them
over to the Lord, pray for his guidance, and pray that he would fill me with
his Spirit so that I respond to these situations with the love, grace and
wisdom of God.
The Ways of the Lord
Psalm 138:4-6 NASB
All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O
Lord,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
And they will sing of the ways of the Lord,
For great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is exalted,
Yet He regards the lowly,
But the haughty He knows from afar.
Sometimes, when I am going
through such trials as this, I don’t know what to do. Not everything is black
and white. The Bible does not give us specific instructions for everything we
face in this life, although there are general instructions we must always
follow. But, some things are subject to interpretation to specific situations,
and so it is not always clear what is the best way to go.
I am not speaking here about
sinning or not sinning. The Bible is real clear on what is sin and what is not
sin. But I am speaking here on areas that may not be as clear, like what should
I say to someone or where should I go today, or how much time should I give to
this or to that. The Bible is clear that everything must be done in love, but
different people interpret “love” in different ways, and so it is not always
clear what is the most loving thing to do in any given situation.
So, it is in these times, in
particular, that we really need to hear God speak his words to our hearts, to
show us the way to go, to give us the right words to say, and even to know what
to think about any given situation and what is the most loving and kind
response. So, as I prayed about this, the Lord spoke to me that I should do as
he would do, so I examined what I knew of what scripture teaches, and I did
what I believed Jesus would do.
In the Midst of Trouble
Psalm 138:7-8 NASB
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive
me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of
my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
I walk in the midst of trouble
most days of my life, it would seem. Not every day has huge troubles, at least
not every day has blatant troubles, but some things are always there, and daily
I must give them over to the Lord and pray for wisdom, for the right heart
attitude, for healing, and for me to respond in the correct manner. I don’t
always.
I don’t always respond with
the love and grace of God, but that is my goal. And, that is what I seek after,
that I may walk in the ways of the Lord always, and that I would always show forth
his love and grace, even in the direst of circumstances. I want to be like
Jesus in all that I do, and in all that I say. So, daily I die to sin and to
self, and I put on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil
schemes against me, so that I can walk by faith and not by sight, and so I can
shine forth Jesus always in all that I do, and in all that I say, for the glory
and praise of God.
It was just a few days ago
that I had this same passage, and again it is encouraging my heart that what
concerns me is what concerns God, and that God will accomplish what concerns
me, because it is what he cares about, too. I get burdened over the same things
as which grieve the Spirit of God, and so I daily have to give these burdens
over to the Lord in prayer so that they don’t weigh in on me, and so I do keep
singing. Amen!
He Keeps Me Singing
Hymn lyrics and music by Luther B. Bridgers, 1910
There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be
still,”
In all of life’s ebb and flow.
All my life was wrecked by sin and
strife,
Discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumbering chords again.
Feasting on the riches of His grace,
Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing,
Always looking on His smiling face –
That is why I shout and sing.
Though sometimes He leads through waters
deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough
and steep
See His foot-prints all the way.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to world’s
unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus –
Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.
*copyright status in public domain
Sunday, July 8, 2018 – Thank
You, Jesus, for encouraging my heart today.
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