Psalms

Anchors in the Storms of Life (Part 1) – Barbara Potts

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We are living in a time that we have not seen or experienced before…. Within the span of only a few weeks the whole world was thrust into a Pandemic of disease, fear, and economic chaos.  Prophetic words have suggested an unsettling scenario:  re calibration – reset- upheaval – never the same again!

What should be our response to these things?

I would like to suggest 7 anchors of peace and hope to hold on to, gleaned from the 23rd Psalm in The Passion Bible.

The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd
I always have more than enough.
2 He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love.
His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss.
3 That’s where he restores and revives my life.
He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure
and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness
so that I can bring honor to his name.
4 Lord, even when your path takes me through
the valley of deepest darkness,
fear will never conquer me, for you already have!
You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way.
Your authority is my strength and my peace]
The comfort of your love takes away my fear.
I’ll never be lonely, for you are near.
5 You become my delicious feast
even when my enemies dare to fight.
You anoint me with the fragrance of your Holy Spirit;
you give me all I can drink of you until my heart overflows.
6 So why would I fear the future?
For your goodness and love pursue me all the days of my life.
Then afterward, when my life is through,
I’ll return to your glorious presence to be forever with you!

Verse 1: “The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd…”

This brings to mind the old hymn:

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
  All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
  Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
  O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
  Everything to God in prayer!

Indeed, Jesus is our friend, and He invites us to share our every thought, fear and need with Him.

Psalm 95 says:

 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

The best friend a sheep has is the SHEPHERD.  Jesus identifies Himself twice in the gospel of John as the Good Shepherd who “gives His life for the sheep.” And Jesus taught in the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12-13:

“If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

Our Good Shepherd is very intentional about guiding us and keeping us from getting lost and falling into the pit falls of life.

“…. I always have more than enough.”

In John 10:10, Jesus said He came to give us ABUNDANT LIFE:

“I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!”  (The Passion Bible)

In Philippians 4:19, Paul exhorts us:

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Anchor 1: Our God is a God of Safety and ABUNDANCE! – With Jesus as my friend and shepherd I will always be safe in his arms and have what I need; even more than enough!

Verse 2 in Psalm 23:

“He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where he restores and revives my life.”

This is reminiscent of the words of Jesus in John 16:33:  “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Then Jesus assured us with these words in John 14:27:  “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

One of the Names of Jesus is Jehovah Shalom – Jesus IS PEACE!  And Jesus lives inside of us and fills us with His Peace!  And He invites us to come and abide in Him, the Prince of Peace… (John 15:4-7; Isaiah 9:6)

 Anchor 2: God offers me a quiet place of peace and rest in Him at all times, for His Presence restores and revives my life.  Do I go there often to commune with Him?

Verse 3 of Psalm 23:

“He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to his name.”

David spoke of pathways in Psalm 16:11: “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The Psalmist in Psalm 119:105 described the Word of God as a lamp that shines to lighten our path:  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

And Psalm 118:19 speaks of pathways leading to righteousness:

Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.

Anchor 3: God’s pathways bring pleasure and joy, and His Word lights my path with revelation. He leads me on a path of righteousness so I can bring Him praise and honor.

Verse 4a of Psalm 23:

“Lord, even when your path takes me through
the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for you already have!”

Paul admonished Timothy that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” ( 2 Timothy 1:7)  Fear is not a part of who we are in Christ.  Instead, Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  There is nothing I will face that will be too difficult for me – for if God is for me, who can be against me? (Romans 8:31)

In fact, we must see testings and trials as gifts to help us learn to overcome…James said, “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things.”  (James 1:2-3, The Passion Bible)

Anchor 4: I am empowered by God to endure and prosper in every temptation and trial of life, and to navigate through the deepest darkness.

Verse 4b of Psalm 23:

“You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way.
Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for you are near.”

Romans 8:35-39 is perhaps the greatest passage on the power of God’s love to keep and to save. Paul’s beautiful words resonate across the millennia:

“What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The prophet Isaiah penned these words on the keeping power of God in Isaiah 26:3-:

“You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.”

Life Flow (Part 1) – Karen Austin

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How many of you have come into a church service tired, discouraged and just beat down by life? Then as you worshiped, the heaviness began to lift. You connected with heaven and were revived.

Once the Lord asked me, “Why do you think that you feel so good, so strengthened, after being in My Presence?” I know the Word says in His Presence is fullness of joy, but what I was feeling went beyond joy. He then answered His question. “There is a life flow in My Presence.” “For whoever finds Me, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 8:35. We may read this scripture and think it means whoever finds Him finds salvation, eternal life. While this is true, the word “life” here means alive, live prosperously, be quickened, and revived from sickness, discouragement or even death! It means refreshment. Life to the Hebrews was associated with health, prosperity and vitality. They view man as a whole being – spirit, soul and body. So whoever finds Him, finds healing, hope and prosperity.

Psalm 36:9 says “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.”God is the source of life. The book of Genesis tells us that God took the dust of the earth and formed a man and then He breathed into man’s nostrils and man became a living being. Intimacy with man began in one breath – when His breath became ours.

One thing I believe Holy Spirit is doing right now is inviting us to allow His Kingdom rule to grow, mature and consume us. It is then His Kingdom will reach beyond us to touch other people. The Presence of God should radiate from within us to touch those in whom we come in contact with. We are to release the fragrance of Heaven where ever we go. Remember Moses who spent much time with the Father, and when he left that place, his appearance was changed…His face shone, reflecting the glory of God.

David is one of my favorite Bible characters. He was a man of one thing. Even though he became king, had political authority and power, met with important people from other nations, his heart was still to worship God. It was during the time that he spent out on a hillside in worship, he found his life source.

“They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house. and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” PSALMS 36:8, 9.

I invite you to drink from the river of His pleasures where I have discovered peace and rest…where I have found answers when I didn’t know where to turn. Drink from His river of life, for in His Presence is light and His light brings revelation which we need so desperately in these days and the days that lie ahead.

~~to be continued

The Crowd and the Crown (Part 2) – Karen Austin

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Yesterday, I wrote about different types of crowds that keep us from God’s plan and destiny for our lives. Another type of crowd is the crowd of life. Even though we are in a time of being shut-in, we can still be busy. There is a crowd of false belief that pressures us to feel as if we are not valuable if we are not productive. There always seems to be one more thing that must be done. There are pressures to obsessively throw ourselves into our jobs. Now, we should work if able but not to the extent that that is all we do and all we talk about. I know you have met some of these folks. I walk away feeling tired just listening to all they have accomplished and what is yet on their “to do” list. We must have balance in our lives. One of the most productive times you can have is when you sit before the Lord and listen to His instruction and direction for your life. We will avoid many missteps if we will take this time to be still. Listen and then obey.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Pressure will come to tempt you to perform for another rather than God. Anything that you put before God is an idol. What is it that you bow down to that you know you should not? What gets in the way of you doing what you are called to do? What causes you to compromise walking in the ways of God? This is a type of a crowd coming against you to press you out of the will of your Father.

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” James 1:17

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” This verse tells us that Jesus, our High Priest, is a feeling person. He feels your pain and your struggles. He was temped like we are and He knows what it is like. The next verse says “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

When you feel the pressures of any of these crowds, I encourage you to go boldly to the Father. Tell Him the things on your heart. Tell Him the pressures that you are facing…your hurts, worries, anxieties, fears, disappointments…the things that you are struggling with. He will give you guidance, peace and strength to overcome and obtain victory.

“No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Overcome is a military term which suggests combat. We are combating against forces of evil and, at times, our own flesh. These have purposed to keep us out of the place of receiving that crown of victory.

You and I must press through every one of these crowds. He has already given the crown of righteousness to those who are His. Press on to receive your crown. Every one of these crowds that you overcome will give you the fortitude, strength and courage to overcome the next crowd that comes against you.

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God and he shall be My son.” Revelation 21:7

~~to be continued