The Voice of Triumph!

Scripture:

Psalm 47:1 "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!"

Observation:

The Psalmist tells us to clap our hands and to shout to God with the voice of triumph. God is not afraid of a little volume! He asks us to clap our hands and shout to Him with "the voice of triumph". There is a sound to triumph. There is a sound of victory that is very real and the author tells us to shout to God with that victory voice.

Application:

Last night I was coaching a wrestling team and periodically, when a tight match was turned around or a defeat was turned into a victory, there was a sound that went through the gymnasium. God is not nervous and He enjoys hearing the sound of victory coming from His people. He wants us to verbalize our excitement about what He has done for us. We must give Him a shout of praise and victory. He loves seeing His children win.

Prayer:

Father, let Your people walk in victory and let the sound of their praise be like the sound of a gymnasium when a victory takes place. You have defeated the devil, death, hell and the grave! Help me to act like it and let my voice declare the sound of victory at all times.

Yours,
Jeff

The Source of Hope

Scripture:

Psalm 42:11 "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God."

Observation:

The author of this Psalm apparently had experienced being down, discouraged, and full of anxiety. He said his soul was "disquieted" within him. This would mean there was no peace in his life at that point. He realizes the depressed state he was in and reminded himself to place his hope in God. He realized that in God there is hope and that God is the source of hope. He also understood that this was a temporary thing he was going through because he said, "yet shall I praise Him".

Application:

When Satan tried his best to get us down and discouraged, we need to put our hope in God, who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask or imagine. We must be a people who don't allow discouragement to get a root in our lives. When we feel it coming, we must hope in God. He is able to deliver from every situation. He is our strength and source of hope.

Prayer:

Father, You are good and your love is everlasting. Thank you for adopting me into Your family. You are the source of my strength and the joy in my heart. You keep me from destruction and cause me to triumph. You are amazing! I put my hope in You this morning.

Yours,
Jeff

National Blessing

Scripture:

Psalm 33:12 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance".

Observation:

The Psalmist makes a declaration here about the nation whose God is the Lord. He says that nation is blessed and the people are chosen as His own inheritance. The blessing of God can come upon a nation that places their trust in Him and when it does, that nation is blessed! The United States once was blessed in that way. It's God was the Lord. It's founders trusted God and the nation was blessed with an amazing history. It became a superpower in a relatively short time. The problem is that our nation has turned away from God and written Him out of their history books.

Application:

America must turn back to God. We need a third great awakening. We need to turn back to the God of our fathers and get under God's blessing once again. We experienced God's undeniable blessing for many years, now we no longer place our trust in Him. The blessing of God has left our nation and the only way to get it back is to turn to Him as a nation.

Prayer:

Lord, let America turn back to You. Let the hearts of men be pierced with the truth of Your word. Let transformation come to our nation. We have seen the day of Your blessing, now we are no longer under the hand of blessing. Forgive us oh Lord for turning away from You.

Yours,
Jeff

Joy Comes in the Morning

Scripture:

Psalm 30:5 "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning".

Observation:

This Scripture lets me know that there are times of weeping in our lives, but morning is as faithful as it gets and joy will come again. There are phases we walk through where we don't feel the joy and we may even feel distanced from God, but weeping only lasts for a period of time, then joy returns. I hear the author saying that joy will come again if we just hold onto God. Weeping is not a permanent situation.

Application:

Sometimes during the hard times, it's hard to think that we will ever smile a real smile again. Many people get caught in the trap of the enemy that says life is terrible and it will never get any better. Life may not always deal us the best hand, but when we are faithful to God, joy will come again. We are never doomed to a life of despair and trouble. Joy will return if we hold on through the storm.

Prayer:

Father, thanks for reminding me this morning that joy always comes in the morning. As faithful as the sun rising in the east, so joy will return to those who serve You. Thank You for reminding me that there are seasons of life that are happier than others, but joy always comes again. We are never defeated in You. You are my rock and my fortress! You are amazing!

Yours Completely,

Jeff

Examine Me

Scripture:

Psalm 26:2 "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart".

Observation:

In this Psalm, David asks the Lord to examine him, prove him and to try his mind and heart. WOW! He is asking the King of Righteousness to examine him thoroughly all the way down to his heart and motives. David knew in his heart that he was living a life pleasing to the Lord. When there is nothing hidden and you know you have a pure heart, you don't resist inspection, you encourage it.

Application:

God wants us to live lives that are pure. In purity is power! When we ask the Holy Spirit to examine our lives, we may not like what we see. This process is extremely necessary. This desire David had should be the heart's desire of every Christian. We should constantly be asking God to examine us, prove us and try us. We should desire to be more like Christ every day and our lives should be growing closer and closer to the full image of Christ. In this way, we will begin to look more like Him every day.

Prayer:

Father, You are awesome! I love you with all my heart. You have been so good to me. Open up my heart and examine me this morning. Search me O God and show me the areas of my life that need to change. I want to be an excellent representation of You and Your kingdom. Help me to represent You well.

Yours,

Jeff

Who is this King of Glory?

Scripture:

Psalm 24:8 "Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle."

Observation:

This is a Psalm of David the great king of Israel. His description of the Lord is fantastic. This entire Psalm is talking about the awesomeness and majesty of God Almighty. David's view of the Lord is that the Lord is strong and mighty. He sees the Lord as able to defeat any enemy. He sees the Lord as a victorious warrior.

Application:

Our view of things in life determines our outcome. If you believe bad is going to happen, it probably will. If you believe God is small or unconcerned about your life, that how his response will be. God wants His children to see Him like David saw Him. He wants us to be people who declare how strong and mighty He is. There is no enemy that can overpower Him. There is no situation He cannot rescue. There is no problem He cannot fix. He is the Lord strong and mighty.

Prayer:

Father, help me to see you like David did, as the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Help me to view You as my father, yet as the one who cannot lose. I want to see You as the mighty God and declare how mighty You are to the nations of the world. You are amazing. Help me to walk in the understanding of who You are and how powerful You truly are. I want to walk by faith in the un-defeatable God.

Jeff

A Pure Heart

Scripture:

Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer".

Observation:

In this passage I see David's heart of wanting to please the Lord in every area of his life. He asks the Lord to let all his words and thoughts to be acceptable to the Lord. This is a pure heart and a heart that the Lord blesses. David didn't live a perfect life. He made many mistakes including some huge ones, but his heart was continually wanting to please the Lord. He asks the Lord , then declares that the Lord is his strength and redeemer.

Application:

We must all have a strong desire to please the Lord with our lives. We should have a heart like David that desires a clean and pure heart, motives, words and actions before the Lord. David saw his sin as sin against God and therefore cried out to the Lord to keep his heart pure. One of the secrets of keeping yourself pure is found in the second part of the verse, "O Lord, my strength and my redeemer". It is God who gives us the strength to please Him. As we focus on bringing Him praise and honor, our thoughts and actions will please Him.

Prayer:

Lord, I want to keep my heart on You today. Help me to stay in tune with You throughout the day. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. You are my strength and my redeemer. You are my life!

Yours,

Jeff