Month: October 2023

Scripture Psalms 60:5 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

Observation: Who is God’s beloved. If you love someone you would be concerned for their desires, you would listen and be concerned on how to please them and you would honor them and make sure they knew that they were loved. God has made it clear that He loves us, but do we love Him in return? We must love God to realize we are His beloved. Love is not supposed to be a one way street, but for so many of us it is. To be God’s beloved we need to love and accept His love. God will save us, but He wants to grow us in His love. To be His beloved we need to love Him back.

Application: I need to show God my love for Him. One way is to be obedient to Him putting Him first before anything. To do what He commands me and to be with Him throughout the day, every day. To acknowledge my Lord before others and introduce others to Him as anyone would introduce their love to others. Show God that I love Him and receive the love He has for me.

Prayer: My Lord, I do love you and want to draw closer to you. I can’t wait to come home and be with you forever. May I be your beloved here for the time being and honor You by the way I live this life.

Scripture Psalms 59:9 I will wait for You, O You his Strength; For God is my defense;

Observation: Why is it so hard to wait. For me it seems almost impossible, I want things and I want them now. Almost all of my bad decisions have been made because I hurried them. I seem to go ahead of God without waiting for a response. Yes I pray and ask for guidance, but before it comes there I go. God can only be my strength and defense if I wait for Him. If I have the greatest army in the world yet I go out to battle before they show up, I’m going to lose and that is what I’ve been doing most of my life.

Application: All through the Bible it tells me you to wait and trust and that is what I need to do. I need patience and when I ask God for direction I need to wait for an answer before trying to go ahead. I’m not here to fulfill my plans for this life, but to fulfill God’s plans for me and how can I do it until I know what they are.

Prayer: Help me Lord, give me the patience to wait on you. Give me a calm spirit and wisdom to wait on you. You are my everything and I need to spend much more time with you to know your heart. Command me each day in what you desire of your servant and give me patience to wait until I hear your commands. I love you and only want what you want for me.

Scripture Psalms 58:11 So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Observation: It’s hard to believe God is judging the earth right now with all the evil that is in it. I look around and wonder why God doesn’t just destroy this place with all the sin and perversion that is in it. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah they couldn’t have been worse than this place. Yet God wants none to perish and He was willing to save Sodom if 10 good men were found. God sees the righteous and we will have a reward when we get home, but it is so hard sometimes to be righteous in this wicked place and if we don’t turn to God for direction, we will never make it to the finish line.

Application: I need to stay focused on God and what He wants of me. I need to realize there is little I can do about the state of this world and the only thing I have control of is me. I need to be righteous in the eyes of God and do the part God has called me to do until it is time for me to go. I need to stay close to my Lord or I’ll never make it He needs to be what I think of all day and not the things that surround me. My rewards come from obeying my God, not anything in this world.

Prayer: My Lord, I’ll never make it to the finish line without you. I need you desperately to direct my path. Put blinders on me that I look at only you and what you have planned for this life. I’m afraid, please take this anxiety from my spirit and give me courage and strength to make it through to the end. I need to finish well help me and others get through. I love and trust you my God.

Scripture Psalms 57:2 I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.

Observation: I cry out a lot, but not always to the one that could do something about my pain. I cry out in anger, in sadness and in frustration and get caught up in the moment without considering my Lord. I’ll bout and moan and even throw a tantrum now and then, which does no good but makes things worse. It’s not until I cry out to God and ask for guidance that anything happens. When I cry out and listen, I get God’s perspective of what I am going through and if I ask, He may open my eyes to see why I’m where I’m at. If we are going to cry, we need to cry out to our Lord.

Application: I need to stop being so focused on me and to stop feeling sorry for myself. I’m not here for me and I need to stop being so arrogant to think that I am. I need to cry out to God when I get overwhelmed and need direction and after I cry out, I need to be silent so that I may hear the answer to my request. I need to remember all of the wonderful things God has already done for me and rest that He loves me and will continue to guide me if I’m obedient to what He calls of me.

Prayer: My Lord I cry out to you. Your servant is in pain and I don’t know what way to go. I feel so lost here at times and need the comfort I can only get from you. Take charge of your servant and command me that I may know your will and guide me to complete the tasks you set before me. I love you my Lord draw me close to you.

Scripture Psalms 56:11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Observation: All of my life I worried about others whether they might hurt me or if I would disappoint them. I was always concerned what others thought of me. I would be afraid of what others could do to me whether physical or emotional. I imagine if I thought that way about God. Trying to do things that would please Him, fearing Him to make sure I do what He commanded me to do and to live a life that would honor Him. I spent so much time worrying about others I had no time to even think about a God, so I lived an empty life.

Application: I need to put God first and when I look at others, I need to see them as God sees them, as His children. I don’t need to please everyone, but I do need to treat them the way God calls me to.

Prayer: My Lord allow me to see others through your eyes, mine are tainted with sin and all I see is evil. Change my heart to love those you surround me with and give me a tender heart. My Lord I love you and I know I can only honor you if I love your children.

Scripture Psalms 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Observation: When I teach my class on depression, I tell everyone how I tried to carry the burdens of life and couldn’t. I’d carry the burdens of the day, all my problems from the past and my worries about tomorrow. I will tell how there is no way to carry these burdens and how they can get so overwhelming that we just want to die and carry them no longer. God never wanted us to carry these burdens and He desires to take them from us if we will let Him. Allowing God to take our burdens is showing our Lord that we trust Him, but it is easier said than done.

Application: I tell others and teach this fact about burdens but each day I take them up and try to make it through another day. I need to learn how to set them down at the cross and never look back. I can’t move forward if I don’t and God has other things planned for me to do. I need to be focused on what God desires of me and not the burdens I carry. I need to let go and move.

Prayer: My Lord and my God. Thank you for desiring to take these burdens from me, I stored up so many. Help me let go and trust you, that I may never try to pick them up again, but to give them to You to discard. All I want to carry with me any longer is the desire to please you and finish this race you have put me in. Help me finish well. I love you Lord, may I show you that today.

Scripture Psalms 54:6 I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.

Observation: What do I have to sacrifice to God? In the Old Testament they were called to sacrifice animals, birds and grains, but Jesus is the new covenant so should I still sacrifice? I’m called to sacrifice myself, my life for it no longer belongs to me anyway. Each day I’m to give my body as a living sacrifice to be holy and pure before my God. It is not a onetime sacrifice, but Jesus calls me to carry my cross each day. My sacrifice is me, all of the time, all that I have, my love and obedience needs to be laid at the alter each day, a sacrifice that should be offered gladly in honor to my God.

Application: I know what I need to do it. My life is to be lived for my Lord and no one else including my own evil desires. No trying to justify bad actions, using the precious time I have for selfish desires, my time and money are no longer mine, but I am now a steward of my Master. I need each day to offer myself as the living sacrifice with a glad heart and complete trust that God will use this sacrifice for Him.

Prayer: My Lord it is so hard to let go and give you this life completely, but in my heart that is my desire. That this life will honor you. I need you to fill me with the Holy Spirit and speak to your servant and guide me each day to complete the work you have set before me. I love you my Lord and I freely give you this life as a living sacrifice.