1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be
on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
2 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who
takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all
their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous
will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
That comes from the NIV version. This is a Psalm of hope, but the hope rests in our ability to connect with God through our praise and trust in Him. David does not try to praise God or give God thanks, he issues a mandate to himself that he WILL bless or extol the Lord at ALL times. It is interesting to me how Believers always want to try and do what God requires of them or try and do what is necessary in order to receive God's best. However, we don't want God to try, we want Him to DO. Believers expect God to wave His magic wand and wave all of their troubles away, but it does not work that way. God works on our behalf and there is work for us to do as well. In verse 4, David says that he sought the Lord. That requires work. When you have issues going on in you and around you, it is work to seek the Lord and to hear Him. It is a fight sometimes, but it is worth it. You can not get the results that David talks about without doing the work and that sometimes means fighting until there appears to be nothing left in you. Notice I said 'appears' because God will restore you and it happens during worship when we take our eyes off of our situation and just start focusing on our God. There is no magic wand nor formula for being able to break free, but there are steps that are required and David mentions them here.
Step 1. Verse 4 (Seek God daily. Don't wait for hell to come up on you because you may be too weak then)
Step 2. Verse 5 (Look to Him daily. True wisdom resides in Him, not us.)
Step 3. Verse 6 (Call on Him daily. Talk to Him, humble yourself before Him, and be prepared to obey)
Step 4. Verse 9 (Respect and Honor Him. He is not the source of your problems, that would be you yielding to your emotions, flesh, and past behaviors. But He is the solution to your problems and will deliver you, if you obey)
Step 5. Verse 13 (Watch what comes out of your mouth, what you put out on social media, and what you text/email. You can kill your blessing and literally work against God. You can also open the door wider for the enemy to torment you. We fail to recognize how much authority and power we have and the Bible tells us that there is life AND death in our tongue.)
Step 6. Verse 14. (Be intentional about this. And this goes for your actions and behaviors. You can't control what other people do and Satan will ignite the fire in people so that they will come after you. But you have to make sure that you hold your peace and go to God. Why? Verse 16, 21, and 22. Trust that God has your back)
These steps must occur and be practiced on a daily basis if you want the blessings and abundance of God to occur in your life daily. You have to practice these steps until they become natural, meaning that you do them without thinking. When I first started practicing these steps, I would often say to God "Ok now God, you know your daughter and you know that if you don't step in things are gonna go down real wrong." And God stepped in every time and He did it by dealing with ME! He did it until people no longer had that affect on me. He taught me how to control my temper and my anger so that no matter what, I was always listening for His voice and instruction. And I am not the only one, there are millions of testimonies out there where God did the same thing and more for others. I would love to add your testimony to it. Those of us with the testimony are not better than you nor greater than you. We have just been through test and can tell you about it.
Allow God to grow you and to love you. You will not regret it. So roll your sleeves up and get ready to work. We are supposed to be building the Kingdom of God and tearing down the Kingdom of darkness and the last time I checked, construction was some hard work. But the rewards are eternal.
Prayer: God, I know you are tired of hearing me come to you over and over about the same old stuff because I am tired of talking about it. I don't know what else to do and I am at my wits end. I need you to work for me and in me like you worked for David. David was not perfect and neither am I, but I am welcoming you in right now. Into my heart, my mind, my home, my job, my car, everywhere I am I want you to be there. Keep my mouth closed and my fingers from typing any time I am getting ready to go against your perfect will. I just want to take the time right now to say, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord! You are my God and my refuge and I will run to you and you alone. Speak Lord and I will obey! In Jesus name, Amen.
Blessings and Love,
Pastor Nichica Melton
PS..If you have a testimony where God did it for you please share it and be an encouragement for someone who may be going through right now.
