Psalm 149:1 NASB
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.
Old Song/New Song
So, nearly every morning,
when I wake up, the Lord Jesus has a song in my head, whether it be an old hymn,
or a contemporary Christian song that is played on the radio, or whether it is
one of the songs he has given me to write. And, whatever the song is, in most
all cases, I know that this song is to go with my devotion for the day.
I do not choose the songs
myself. I also do not choose the scriptures myself, but for the past several
months, at least, the Lord has been having me follow the daily readings on
biblegateway.com, only he usually expands them beyond just the one verse.
Before that, I read book by book and chapter by chapter in the books of
Prophecy in the OT, and in the NT books.
Well, sometimes the Lord will
repeat a song for several days, and today was one of those days. Again the song
was “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” This is the third day for this song. So,
sometimes, in my flesh, I question whether or not that is to be the song again.
But, I yield to the Lord. I know he has his reasons for repeating things over
and over again.
Then I read the passage of
scripture about singing to the Lord “a new song.” So, then I wondered if he was
going to give me a new song, and not the same old song again.
And, then I recalled a dream
in the night which showed a bathroom door opening up to a table used for
recording new songs. I took this as an encouragement that the Lord may be
having me writing songs again, but I recognized that there was more to it than
that.
A bathroom, to me, always
represents a place of spiritual cleansing where we get rid of the dirt and the
refuse of our lives, and where we are washed in the pure water of the Spirit of
God in salvation from sin. The door to this bathroom is Jesus Christ. He is the
only way to our salvation from sin. So, this door, Jesus, who is the door to
our salvation, is also the door to this new song. The Lord was making that
connection for me via this dream.
But, then I came to the
realization that the “new song” is really the old song of the cross, i.e. it is
“Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” It is the song of the message of the cross of
Christ Jesus, of death to sin, and of living to God. It is a song about getting
rid of the dirt and the refuse of our old lives and of being purified by Christ’s
righteousness so that we now walk according to the Spirit, and no longer
according to the flesh. Thank You, Jesus! Amen!
Psalm 149:4 NASB
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.
He Will Beautify
So, for the past year, my
husband and I have been living in a one-bedroom apartment, because it was all
that we could afford. We live on Social Security, so we do not have a huge
income, but it is adequate to meet all of our needs and to even help meet others’
needs, too, from time to time.
But, we were paying taxes on
our SS income, not knowing that we didn’t have to last year. So, when we
realized that we do not owe taxes on our SS income, that gave us enough of a
boost to our income to where we can now afford a two-bedroom apartment, so that
I can have a room where I can write, read, respond to others, pray, study, and
even write songs again.
Thus, my husband and I are
now in the process of getting ready to move into this new apartment, and I am
in the process of planning out my new room the Lord is blessing me with, where
I can have a small desk and chair to sit at to write, and I can have my
keyboard (piano) next to me and across the room from me I can have a work table
where I can record songs.
For me, this is the Lord
taking pleasure in me that he would bless me with this additional space for my
studio/study. For, I had prayed and asked him to supply this according to his
will and purposes. And, although the “salvation” being supplied here is not
that of salvation from sin, the Lord does provide salvation (deliverance) from
many obstacles in our walks of faith in him, too, and having no private space
to work was an obstacle.
And yet, this is about his
salvation from sin, too, for the work he has given me to do is to share the
message of the cross of Christ, whether it be through devotions or through
songs or poetry or via responding to other people’s posts or in person with
people, too. And, this extra room will help facilitate that ministry God has
given me to preach his gospel message of salvation from sin and of our walks of
faith in his righteousness.
Psalm 149:5-6 NASB
Let the godly ones exult in glory;
Let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand.
Exult in Glory
The Lord is encouraging me
here that this is a picture of what it will look like in this new space he is
providing me, not that this present ministry is not already a picture of that,
but that it will be even more so when I have a room given over specifically to
that purpose alone.
He has encouraged me in so
many ways that He is in this move, and that He has a purpose for it, and it
will definitely be for his glory and for his purposes.
He has also given me many
physical reminders of his grace for this room, such as pictures, scripture, and
words intended to keep my focus on Him and on His calling on my life, and on
what is hopeful, too.
He even led me, I believe, to
purchase a shower curtain for the bathroom that has scriptures all over it, and
towels and accessories which say “Praise,” “Joy,” “Believe,” “Faith,” “Hope,”
and “Love.” And, maybe five years or so ago, he had me hire a friend to make me
a scripture quilt with my favorite scriptures on it, and now I will have a
space where I can display it so that I can read those scriptures and be
reminded of all God’s promises to me.
These will serve as continual
reminders to give praise to God, to thank him always, even in the hard times,
to “walk by faith and not by sight,” and to always hold on to hope, even when I
can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But, this is not just about
giving God praise, and it is not just about being reminded of his blessings,
his provisions, and his love, grace and mercy to me, in saving me from my sins.
But, this is also a reminder
to keep on with the two-edged sword in my hand, which is the Word of God and
the gospel of our salvation. I need to keep presenting the truths of His Word
and of His gospel, especially in a time in our world and within the church when
so many are diluting the gospel to make it acceptable to human flesh.
And, the truth is that Jesus
died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. This is the essence of
the gospel message of our salvation. And, one I must continue to share until
the day in which my Lord takes me home to be with him for eternity, even if it
costs me my life or being persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
Hymn lyrics by Henry F. Lyte, 1833
Music attr. to Mozart, 1831/ Arr. Hubert P. Main, 1872
Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to
leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou
from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve
sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition! God and
heav’n are still mine own.
Let the world despise and leave me,
they have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou
art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God
of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,
show Thy face and all is bright.
Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service pain is pleasure; with
Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I
have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
all must work for good to me.
Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill
but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me; heav’n
will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me, while
Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were
that joy unmixed with Thee.
Haste then on from grace to glory,
armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heav’n’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
*Copyright status is Public Domain
Wednesday, August 8, 2018 –
Thank You, Jesus, for this encouragement from Your Word to walk in the way of
the cross of Christ. Amen!
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