Psalm 23 was written by David. So many times I read it when I attend a funeral.
Its the way to begin a great day. Pray it out loud for everyone you know at the start of your day.
Author Archives: Linda
God Hears
Honor God. He hears the prayers of the helpless. He also hears the cries of the guilty. His love is unending for all humanity.
Psalm 22:
I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.
I will praise you among your assembled people.
23 Praise the Lord, all you who fear him!
Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob!
Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy.
He has not turned his back on them,
but has listened to their cries for help.
25 I will praise you in the great assembly.
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied.
All who seek the Lord will praise him.
Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy.
27 The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him.
All the families of the nations will bow down before him.
28 For royal power belongs to the Lord.
He rules all the nations.
29 Let the rich of the earth feast and worship.
Bow before him, all who are mortal,
all whose lives will end as dust.
30 Our children will also serve him.
Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.
31 His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born.
They will hear about everything he has done.
Zeal Of Peter
Peter who was possibly Jesus’ most passionate disciple had big emotions. Sometimes he greatly glorified God with his words. At other times he put his foot in his mouth and said the the wrong thing.
In Matthew 16, there are a few notable verses as Jesus and his disciples converse. Peter stands out in this passage. Here is a list of notable verses along with Peter interacting with Jesus. And then the full passage follows.
1)Jesus asked His disciple who people thought He was. Peter promptly replies that He is the Messiah that the prophets spoke of to the Jews. Jesus was pleased and blessed Peter.
2)Then Jesus blessed Peter even more by telling him he was Peter, which means rock, and upon such faith in God, Jesus Himself, would build His church. Even hell could not overcome such dedication and trust in God.
3)Jesus then began telling His disciples how He would die and then raise from the dead.
4)In all his zeal and emotion Peter then spoke up and said the wrong thing. He told Jesus such things wouldn’t happen.
5)Jesus directly got on to him and commanded the devil to stop being involved in the situation.
6)Then Jesus we must all deny ourselves and each take up our cross and follow Him. We must deny ourselves.
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. 11.
Matthew 16:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”[a]
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[b] the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John,[c] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[d]and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[e] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid[f] on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit[g] on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
21 From then on Jesus[h] began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him[i] for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[j] Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
So~
I pray today. God, in all our emotion and zeal for you, let us remember to control our tongue, deny ourselves and submit to you. With Jesus, I pray.
Guard Your Heart
Guard your heart. It will guard your words.
For about six months I’ve been writing down verses that I read about speaking. It’s a lengthy list. But today as I was listening to Turning Point by Dr. David Jeremiah, he summed up every verse I found with simply one verse. ~
My Words verses list~
Proverbs 4:23 guard your heart
Proverbs 15:23
Proverbs 29:11
Prov 16:23-24
Ephesians 4:29
Proverbs 16:21
Psalm 141:3
Proverbs 13:2
Proverbs 21:23
Proverbs 4:20
James 1:19 carefully chosen words ampc
Matt 12:33-37
1 Peter 3:10 mouth from speaking evil
Ephesians 4:29
Proverbs 16:27 gossip
Prov 17:4 gossip
Prov 17::7 eloquent words
Psalm 141:3 guard your words
Prov 17:14 quarrel
Ps 139:4 God knows
Pr 17:19 quarrel
Pr 17:20 lying
Pr 17:27 few words
Pr 17:28 few words
Ps 141:1-4 control my lips in prayer
Pr 18:2 fools words
Pr 18:4wise words
Pr 18:6-7 lips of fools
Pr 18:8 gossip
Pr 18:13 listening
Pr 18:17 lawsuit/ first to speak
Pr 18:20 fruit of mouth
Pr 18:20 harvest of lips
Pr 18:21power of life and death
Pr 18:23 poor pleading
Pr 19:5 liar
Pr 19:9 liar
Pr 19:13 quarrelsome wife
Pr 19:28 mouth of wicked
Pr 20:14 haggle
Pr 20:15 wise words
Pr 20:18 wise advice
Pr 20:19 gossip/chatterers
Pr 20:20 insult
Pr 20:25 rash promise
Pr 20:22 get even
Pr 21:6 wealth from a lying tongue
Pr 21:9 quarrelsome wife
Pr 21:11 punish mocker/instruct wise
Pr 21:18 quarrelsome complaining wife
Pr 21:23 tongue
Pr 21:24 mockers
Pr 21:28 false/credible witness
Pr 18:8 rumors
Matt 6:34 saying
Eccl 5:3 too many words
Eccl 5:5 promise
Eccl 5:7 talk is cheap
Proverbs 22:17-19 words and heart
Eccl 10:12
Eccl 12:11 wise words that are painful
Prov25:15 soft speech
Prob 25:18 telling lies
Prov 26:4-5
Prov 26:17
Prov 26:20 quarrels
Prov 26:28 lying and flattering
Prov 27:1 bragging
Prov 27:2 others praise you
Prov 27:4 rebuke
Prov 27:14 loud mouth in the morning
1 peter 3:10 don’t speak evil and lie
Proverbs 29:11 fools vent, wise hold back
Prov 29:19 Words alone not correction
Prov 29:20 speaking without thinking
Ps 139:4 God already knows what I will say
Ps 141:3 God control my words
Ps 4:4 don’t speak when you’re angry
Matthew 5:37 yes be yes no be no
Ps 17:3 determined not to sin with words
Prov 2:6 mouth of God, wisdom
Prov 2:12 twisted words from bad people
Matthew 12:37 give an account on judgement day
Proverbs 4:20-22 words of a godly father to his children are life giving and healing to the whole body
Prov 4:24 avoid perverse and corrupt talk
Prov 5:1-6 stay away from immoral women
Prov 6:20-23
Children never forget your mother and fathers admonition
Psalm 4:4
Remain silent, control your anger
Exodus 4:10-16 Moses asks God to not use him as a spokesman
Greater Than Gold
God gave me a gifting of love for His Word. I truly believe in it. Everyday I pray the Word of God over my family and all those around. David also loved God’s Word as he described it in Psalm 19.
Psalm 19:
The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear,
giving insight for living.
9 Reverence for the Lord is pure,
lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true;
each one is fair.
10 They are more desirable than gold,
even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the comb.
11 They are a warning to your servant,
a great reward for those who obey them.
12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.
14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
World’s Greatest Leader
Jesus is the world’s greatest leader. He died and came back to life so that all humanity has the option of life after they die.
In Matthew 14, a close relative and the humble introducer of Jesus’ ministry to those around, John the Baptist, was cruelly beheaded by King Herod. I know this would have hurt Jesus. He needed time alone to think and sort through the pain of this awful deed.
After He was told the news He quickly left to go someplace to be alone. His mind was heavy. In His humanity, Jesus needed to cry over His great loss. For a careless stupid reason, John the Baptist had been killed. The king liked John but because of his lust over a woman and her dance, he was trapped by his speaking without thinking first. Most likely he was drunk. And now the humble John the Baptist was humiliated in death.
Jesus left his ministering to be alone but as he went the crowds kept coming. So what did Jesus do? He set aside the great heaviness of losing his beloved cousin and focused on the people. He went beyond the second mile of caring for them and poured compassion out on them and healed them. Jesus called John the greatest. Those words may have comforted Jesus as He continued ministering when He wanted to grieve.
Matthew 14:
10 So John was beheaded in the prison,11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
13 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. 14 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
So~
I pray today…Jesus I thank You that we are hidden in You. You set the example of being the worlds greatest leader. You ARE the King of Kings and Lord of lords. Give us the strength today to minister like you.
Confidence Through God
Trust God and gain confidence through Him.
Psalm 18:
For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
Mine
God is mine. We are close. Yes, He is mine and I am His. He is powerful and I praise Him. He helps me and I am thankful. I tell others about my God.
David loved God. God was his. He was God’s. God saved him from overwhelming enemies. So David poured out his heart in thankfulness in Psalm 18. He got possessive and in the first three verses he used the personal pronoun my ten times in all his gratitude toward God.
Psalm 18:
I will love You, O Lord,
my strength.2 The Lord is my rock
and my fortress
and my deliverer;
My God,
my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield
and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
Generational Wisdom
King David taught his son Solomon to honor God and have wisdom. When Solomon was a young man and first began to rule as king he asked God for wisdom to help his people. God gave it to him and also added financial prosperity. But in the end years of Solomon’s life, he had wives that worshiped false gods and this harmed Solomon’s wisdom and closeness to God. Solomon had a son named Rehoboam. When Rehoboam became king he used the counsel of young people his age rather than the wise counsel of older people. He didn’t rule Israel with the wisdom of his father.
When Rehoboam was growing up his father greatly desired for his son to cling to the wisdom of God. In Proverbs 1-9, it is attributed to Solomon, and in those chapters time and time again, Solomon earnestly tells his son to live a life of wisdom.
Through hundreds of years parents have read Solomon’s words in Proverbs and they have taken heed and followed them.
So~
Today, I cry out to God, using the words of Solomon, for my young adult kids, their friends, the young people at church and all over my city…God let us gain your wisdom today and live it out. We say no to sinful pleasures that only last for a short time and then can cause harm.
Proverbs 4:
My children, listen when your father corrects you.
Pay attention and learn good judgment,
2 for I am giving you good guidance.
Don’t turn away from my instructions.
3 For I, too, was once my father’s son,
tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.
4 My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
10 My child, listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.
14 Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
15 Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
Turn away and keep moving.
16 For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
17 They eat the food of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence!
18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
21 Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
22 for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
24 Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.
25 Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
26 Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
27 Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.
Victorious
In Psalm 18, after God delivered him from his overwhelming enemies, David poured out his heart in gratitude. Many times through the Psalms, David goes into details of how he needs deliverance from his foes. He even told God how he hates them and wants them destroyed. He cried out again and again. And then, in perfect timing, God answered. At the beginning of this Psalm, David describes God with many powerful attributes. God, in all His love, helped David overcome. David then paints a vivid picture, an image of God at work from the heavens, conquering all enemies.
This Psalm has 50 verses. David continues on to describe how God helped him.
But the ending is unexpectedly awesome. David, in faith and trust in God, knew that He would even give GREAT VICTORIES to future generations…and, as Christians, that means us! Because of Jesus, we are added to the lineage of David and Abraham. We partake in great victory with God’s help over all our enemies!
Psalm 18:
1 I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death entangled me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
great bolts of lightning flashed, and they were confused.
15 Then at your command, O Lord,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You rescue the humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
your help has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
You appointed me ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.
So~
Today, I pray and thank God today, that all our enemies are defeated!
Linda's Thoughts 